Forgotten Son
by Lionheart261
Summary: After being cast aside by his father for his low power level and non-aggressive tendencies, a twist of fate sends the Saiyan prince Tarble away from his intended destination of Tech-Tech to a new planet: Earth.
1. A Change of Fate

Age 733

The sun was just beginning to set when the people heard the news. With the red skies of Planet Vegeta gradually turning a darker shade with the coming of night, and a crowd of thousands waiting outside of the palace, King Vegeta himself stepped onto the balcony to address the people through a small amplifier attached to the collar of his armor. When they saw him, the people at first cheered before silencing themselves, waiting for what he had to say with bated breath. King Vegeta cleared his throat before beginning.

"Greetings, my subjects! I come bearing news of the utmost importance to the kingdom...and, of course, to my own family." He paused for a moment before continuing. "After many months, the day that the queen and I have been waiting for has come. My wife...has given me a second son."

At this, the crowd erupted into cheers, overcome with joy at the good news regarding their royal family. King Vegeta held up a hand to silence them.

"Yes, yes, it is a time of great rejoicing!" King Vegeta concurred, before continuing, "However, per tradition, he will be immediately placed into an artificial incubation unit, so as to ensure proper development over the next three years. Until he is released, I must insist that he not be seen by anyone other than my trusted royal medical personnel. With all that said, however, even though it will still be some time before I can properly introduce him to you all, I would nevertheless ask that you join me...in welcoming Prince Tarble into the world. May he serve his kingdom with distinction for many long years, and serve as an example for all Saiyans!"

King Vegeta raised his arm in a triumphant gesture as the crowd cheered, caught up in the excitement of it all. He gave a stilted smile in response to the public's enthusiasm before turning around and pushing past the curtains of his balcony, evidently not wanting to be there much longer. One of his royal scientists stood in his chamber waiting for him, knowing he expected a report.

"Any signs of rejection?" he asked as he turned off the amplifier. The scientist shook her head.

"No, my lord. Prince Tarble was placed into an incubation unit about...two minutes ago," she said, glancing down at her electronic pad. "No problems reported."

King Vegeta nodded, satisfied. "Make sure it stays that way."

"The report also made sure to mention that the queen is faring well, and should be back on her feet after a day or two."

King Vegeta nodded absentmindedly before looking the scientist in the eyes. "I want that unit monitored by the second, I want guards on two hour shifts all 28 hours of the day, and I want a daily report on my son's condition rolled into my daily briefing. Understood?"

"Of course, my lord. I'll inform the chief of internal security," she replied before exiting the room, leaving him alone as he found himself worrying over just what kind of man his second son would turn out to be. He snorted sardonically to himself.

"_Even if he turns into a disobedient brat like his brother...I know that he will be a fine Saiyan, a credit to our bloodlines," _he thought to himself, not bothering to consider the possibility of him being proven wrong.

* * *

Age 736

"What did you say?!"

King Vegeta barked the question at the scientist, who shrunk slightly when faced with his imposing figure and petrifying glare. His wife sought desperately to pull him away from the poor woman and make him see reason, but at the moment, his anger over what she had just told him overruled his wife's appeals.

"I-I simply stated that, uh, your son's power level is, uh..." the scientist said in a panic, stumbling over her words. King Vegeta grabbed the woman by the scruff of her coat and lifted her up into the air.

"**You** have told me **every**! **Day**! That the incubation unit was functioning properly!"

"A-and it has been!" the scientist replied, scared out of her mind. "Your son is properly developed in every respect! In fact, his psychological profile shows that he is slightly more intelligent than the average Saiyan! T-this isn't a mechanical error! Your son is just-!"

King Vegeta pulled the woman closer until her face was right in front of his own. He clamped down harder on her coat.

"Do not finish that sentence if you value your life," he responded coldly, barely containing his fury. The scientist frantically nodded before King Vegeta angrily threw her to the ground, causing her to get up and flee the lab in a hurry. King Vegeta stood there breathing heavily for a second before firing off a ki blast, tearing apart some of the hospital beds with an angry yell. His wife simply sighed and placed a hand on his shoulder, which he swiftly brushed off.

"Really, dear, I think you're overreacting to-"

"**Overreacting**?!" the king shot back angrily, to which the queen fell silent. He glared at her before pacing around the lab. "55! 55! **Fifty**! **Five**! You'd be hard pressed to find a litter of **peasants **with power levels as low as that!"

"So he won't be a fighter!" the queen shot back, angry herself at her husband's behavior. "He could still play an important role as an advisor, or a military tactician. He doesn't **have **to execute infiltration missions like Vegeta does."

King Vegeta scoffed. "You obviously didn't pay close enough attention to the psychological evaluation! 'Polite,' 'calm,' 'friendly!'" The king made a sound as if he was about to retch. "I've got one word to sum up all of that rubbish-**weak**! Our son, **the second heir to the throne**, is **weak**, in every sense of the word! And you have the **audacity **to say that I am overreacting?!"

"Are you seriously suggesting you'd rather have a son who disrespects you as soon as he grows to surpass you, who disrespects his mother simply for existing, as long as he had the battle power to carry out infiltration missions? Do you **really **want **another **Vegeta?!"

"Frankly?! **Yes**!" The king shouted. "Because at least I know Vegeta has the strength and the ruthlessness a proper Saiyan should have! He won't try and talk his way out of conflict, or falter when key decisions need to be made! He'll act decisively and do whatever is necessary for the good of the kingdom!" After a moment of silence, he began anew. "But what if he should die on a mission, or be taken ill? The kingdom would be left in the hands of a...a **pacifist**!"

"I-I feel like you're jumping to conclusions here-"

"SILENCE!" King Vegeta shouted, promptly shutting up his wife and causing murmurs from various personnel walking through the hall beyond the door. After a few deep breaths, he steadied himself, while his wife watched him with apprehension.

"...How many know of this, would you say?"

The queen's eyes widened, but she gave her answer. "P-probably just Doctor Karot and a few of her aides. Y-you aren't suggesting-?"

"There's no reason that the public needs to know his precise power level. Releasing Vegeta's power level to the public upon his reemergence was, if I recall correctly, at his own request."

"He wanted everyone to know how close he was to surpassing your power," the queen remarked dryly, to which King Vegeta scowled before returning to his point.

"We could easily claim it was sufficient to have him qualify for an infiltration mission," he continued. "In fact...I have the perfect planet in mind." He walked over to a table and pulled up an electronic pad, pulling up the information he required before showing it to his wife.

"'Tech-Tech?'" she asked, before a look of apprehension came over her. "B-but it's in the low C-class range. Average power level of 15, with outliers up to 150. I-if his power level is really only 55, then-"

"Then it will be a valuable test," King Vegeta concluded. "Either he will adapt to his situation and realize that he must fight in order to survive...or he will perish."

The queen gasped at King Vegeta's callousness. "B-but he's your **son**! How could you make him take such a risk?!"

"If he won't fight, he's no son of mine," King Vegeta remarked angrily. "Besides, one way or another he must prove his worth. A Saiyan as weak as him might be permissible in a peasant line, but among royalty..." King Vegeta shook his head, silently reaffirming his point. The queen tried another tack in desperation.

"S-surely you should at least consider giving him some combat training before-"

"The pod will imprint all he needs to know into his brain prior to arrival. I will also take care to have our scientists implant some knowledge of his people into him. Perhaps that will encourage him to embrace his Saiyan heritage."

His wife fell silent, unsure exactly on how to object, but before she could try and speak up, the king glared at her.

"I've made my decision. You are not to speak a word of any of this to anyone, do you understand?"

His wife nodded slowly, defiance shining dimly in her eyes. "Of course."

King Vegeta nodded slowly. "I will give the order to Dr. Karot." With this, he stormed out of the lab, leaving the queen to look off in the distance worryingly, wondering whether or not her son would be safe. A sudden, mad impulse to take the child was swiftly crushed when she considered the odds of success. Thus, she simply shuddered nervously, feeling completely powerless to prevent what she was sure would be a tragedy in the making.

* * *

"Warning! Warning! Solar flare impact in 15 seconds! Warning! Warni-!"

The Attack Ball rocked slightly as the solar flare hit it dead on, causing massive disruption to its onboard computer systems. After a few minutes of silence, the main computer managed to restart itself, taking note of the damage as the Attack Ball cut its engines and engaged its maneuvering thrusters, letting it fall back to a normal coasting speed below the speed of light.

"Warning! Life support systems compromised! Repair protocols compromised! Switching to emergency air supply...switch confirmed. Stasis field secure. Estimated survival time of pod occupant in stasis with emergency oxygen reserves: 5 days, 13 hours, 22 minutes, 17 seconds. Calculating nearest habitable planet based on current star-charts...confirmed. Nearest habitable planet located. ETA: 4 days, 16 hours, 37 minutes, 47 seconds. Pending designation: Frieza Planet 519. Current designation: Earth."

Its course set, the Attack Ball took off at maximum speed in a new direction, hurtling towards the only hope of survival for the young prince resting within, occupied with the mental images the pod continued to project into his mind to prepare him for his task..

* * *

Tarble opened his eyes blearily, feeling somewhat famished and very confused as to just where he was supposed to be. With some slight effort, he managed to get out of the pod as it opened its hatch, only to quickly regret it as he was blasted with a wave of cold air. He considered going back into the ship when he heard an audible cracking in the ice his ship had evidently landed in. 'Wasting no time, Tarble put the lessons he'd learned en route to Tech Tech into practice, taking off into the air with a burst of ki as the ice crumbled beneath him, sending his pod sinking to the depths of the icy water below.

When he landed nearby in a safer spot, he looked at the sinking pod with regret. Even if he went to save it, the water would've short-circuited its systems, frying its computer and leaving it completely inoperable. He shivered uncontrollably as he watched his only currently available means of getting back home sink and sink, never to be seen again. He thought of the kind, sad face of his mother, kissing him on the forehead as she gently placed him into his pod, praying for his safety, and found himself shedding a tear, which stung all the more in light of the cold nearly freezing it solid on his face. With a small kiai, he blew off the ice crystals, and endeavored to take off due south of the landing site, hoping against hope that there was a settlement of some kind nearby.

He thought nothing of his task-even if he conquered the planet, which he was loathe to do, what would it matter if he could not engineer his return home? Besides, to have chosen such an inhospitable place for his second son to begin his first infiltration mission...Tarble put the thought out of his mind. Now wasn't the time to dwell on his father, or the disgust he saw in his eyes before being put under. At the moment, his primary concern was staying alive.

Thus, he continued flying through the air, shivering extensively as he went and forced to let out small kiais to counteract the buildup of frost on his skin and armor, further draining his energy. It didn't take long for the complete lack of food and the bitterness of the elements to wear down his stamina, causing him to sputter out of his flight around five hours in. Managing to stabilize himself prior to landing in the snowy ground below, Tarble was left walking south as best as he could, finding himself stymied some time later as a blizzard rolled in. Try as he might to push on, the boy could only manage so much, and eventually he simply collapsed, falling face-first into the snow as the blizzard raged over him.

* * *

When Tarble opened his eyes next, he found himself sitting in front of a fire, wrapped up in blankets and his Saiyan armor having been removed. A quick glance told him that it had simply been placed in a corner of the room, which appeared to be constructed primarily of wood, and open out into other adjacent rooms. He had evidently been taken into a native dwelling of some kind, which begged the question of how exactly he had ended up there. From what he had learned from his pod, the homes on Tech Tech were constructed out of synthetic materials, nothing like the simple wood construction he saw in this home. His thoughts would not proceed any further on this point, as he caught sight of a young woman staring at him.

The woman was fairly short, perhaps 5'5", with black hair and brown eyes. Tarble could only guess that the woman was a young adult, having no knowledge of her species. His memories told him that the people of Tech-Tech were supposed to be no taller than a meter, with pure black eyes, two thin nostrils, and no hair at all on their oval-like heads. And yet, this woman looked far more Saiyan than anything else, but at the same time could not possibly be a Saiyan. Thus, Tarble was left very confused. Before he could speak up, the woman had let out a slight gasp, evidently realizing he had awoken.

"Peng! Peng, come quick! He's awake!" she called out to a figure who Tarble guessed was in the adjacent room. Within seconds, a slightly taller man with black hair and a short moustache entered, evidently just as surprised. Tarble, meanwhile, took the time to voice his confusion.

"You don't look like a Techtite," he said frankly, pointing at her face. The woman looked at him as she cocked her head.

"Excuse me?" she asked. "What's a Techtite?" The question seemed to solidify Tarble's suspicions, and he looked around the room quizzically.

"Where am I?" he asked the two of them, who hesitated a second.

"Uh, you're in our house, in Jingle Village," the man, Peng, explained. "My wife Sagi found you yesterday. You were buried in the snow a few miles outside of our village, barely breathing." Tarble nodded, his condition making sense, before Peng asked a question of his own. "I-if I may ask, what exactly were you doing out in the middle of a blizzard?"

Tarble considered how to respond to the question for a moment. Based on the construction of the building and the devices he could see throughout the structure, he could only assume that whoever these people were, they were not at the level of developing space travel. Thus, they likely had no knowledge of alien cultures. Announcing that he was an alien could cause distress which could place him in danger. But, on the other hand, they had saved his life, and did not appear particularly threatening. Thus, he compromised, erring on the side of caution.

"I was walking," he replied simply, to the couple's astonishment.

"Walking? In a blizzard?" Sagi, asked, to which Tarble nodded. She looked to her husband with concern, who attempted to get more information.

"B-but what were you doing out there alone? Where are your parents?"

Tarble started slightly before answering. "Far, far away. I...I don't think my daddy wants me anymore." He sniffled as he considered his circumstances and the cold, dismissive gaze of his father, before rubbing the tears out of his eyes. Although still somewhat apprehensive at the strange boy's behavior, Sagi nevertheless placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey...hey, it's okay. You're safe here. He can't mistreat you anymore."

Tarble nodded, aware of that much. With the pod sunk and having diverted from its course, they wouldn't know anything was amiss until the Saiyan survey craft flew by Tech-Tech again. Almost a year's time before anyone would even consider sending a rescue party...assuming his father even would. Even a child as young as he could tell when he wasn't wanted, and his father clearly did not want him. Before he could dwell on the subject for much longer, Peng decided to broach another awkward subject.

"Say...speaking of your parents...did they have...tails?"

Tarble stopped for a second. Realizing that this species very likely did not have tails, there was thus no way for him to maintain the illusion that he wasn't an alien. Thus, he decided to be honest, and nodded in confirmation.

"Yup. All of us have tails."

Peng nodded slowly, an idea beginning to form in his head. "And where are you from?"

Tarble hesitated for a second before committing. "A planet known as Planet Vegeta."

The two humans' eyes widened as they looked to each other. Tarble took a deep breath and began to explain in full what he knew of his origins, answering any questions they had to the best of his ability and in some cases demonstrating his extraordinary abilities. An hour or so later, Peng and Sagi finally let out a long sigh, utterly confounded by the whole situation.

"You...you have to understand: this is a lot to take in," Sagi said, addressing Tarble, who nodded in understanding.

"Tell you the truth, if it weren't for those weird clothes of yours, your...talents, and the tail, I would've thought you'd just had a really weird dream," Peng added. Tarble again nodded.

"But...even considering everything you've told us-being a 'Saiyan', conquering planets, flying around punching people and firing laser blasts..." Sagi went on before pausing. "It doesn't seem like you're particularly inclined to do any of that." Tarble nodded, confirming that it was a fair assessment. "It seems like what you're really looking for is...food. Safety. A home of your own. With...a family that cares about you and wants you to be you safe. That doesn't let anything diminish your worth, or make you feel less worthy of love." Tarble again nodded, but wasn't quite sure what the couple was getting at. Peng and Sagi glanced at each other, evidently both having the same idea.

"L-look, we know it's sudden," Peng said. "A-and you have every right to refuse, but...provided you're willing...we would like you to become a part of our family."

Tarble was confused, yet the couple could tell he was interested from the brightness in his eyes. "What do you mean, exactly?"

Sagi paused for a second before explaining. "We mean that we would like to adopt you as our son. If you're okay with that, of course."

"'Adopt?'"

Sagi was unsure how to elaborate, but Peng took up the task. "In our culture, when a child is left without their parents for whatever reason-accidental death, being given up, or taken from a family that was bad to them, some people who want to have a child might offer to assume custody of the child, making them their own in every way but blood."

Tarble slowly nodded in understanding. "So...you would be my daddy?"

Sagi and Peng both smiled. "If that's what you want," Peng replied.

Tarble's thoughts turned to his mother. Even as he knew that his father cared little for him, he knew that his mother was different. He could see it in her eyes as he was placed into the pod. He felt the desire to get back to her somehow, or get her a message, letting her know that he was alive. And yet, when he considered it, the idea fell flat for the moment. This 'Earth's' communications technology was not likely to be sufficient to reach Planet Vegeta, assuming he even knew what frequency to use. And as long as there were no other ships he could use, he was stuck on the planet. Thus, although not wishing to push the memory of her smile aside, his vision instead focused on Sagi and Peng, two aliens who, even after only knowing him for a couple of hours and discovering his alien origins, still intended to devote themselves to his welfare. Tarble smiled as he looked at the two of them, Sagi in particular as she moved in for a hug, which he accepted gratefully.

He'd get back to his mommy eventually. But for now...this was enough.

* * *

Whew! This took way longer than I thought it would!

Alright, so I was working on Hermit pretty late at night, wee hours of April Fools, when I decided to do something for the day, that wasn't really a prank, but was kind of out of the ordinary, seeing as I'd just published a new chapter. I've been tossing around this other concept for a Dragon Ball story for some time, but hesitated to start it in earnest due to the fact that I've been running Hermit on a strict schedule for so long, not to mention other fics. So, I figured that today would be a good day to get out an intro chapter, a proof-of-concept, if you will, to gauge the people's reaction to my work. So, after much more work than I thought it would take, that introductory chapter is here, in all of its glory.

As far as this fic goes, I probably won't add onto it again until I find time in between Hermit and other projects, along with life stuff, so...might be a while. Like with Hermit, I'll respond to reviews in succeeding chapters. Still debating whether or not I'll come up with power levels that aren't stated in the story somehow, just because of the hassle some of them cause. Anywho, don't hesitate to let me know what you think of this new fic in the reviews below. Hope you all have a fantastic night, and take care.


	2. Trouble in Paradise

"Alright, Tarble, move it a little to the left! ...Yeah, like that. Now, set it down there, gently, and...yes! Nicely done!"

A man in his late 40s stood in the snow and gave a thumbs up at the floating young man who had just set down the last piece of the house they were constructing. Clad in a thick fur coat and a comically long fur cap to match, Tarble smiled as he returned the gesture before touching down to the ground. As a whole, he hadn't grown too much in the long years he'd lived with Peng and Sagi in Jingle Village-he stood perhaps 5 feet tall in height, and although it was clear that he exercised regularly, he was not particularly bulky. His spiky hair had remained largely the same shape as it had when he was a toddler-the first time Sagi gave him a haircut, it had simply grown back to its original length a week later and stayed there. Thus, it was largely left alone. Aside from this and the aforementioned flying, there was also the matter of Tarble's tail, which had grown along with him and stood flapping slightly in the mild breeze. After receiving more praise from the village workman, Tarble looked to his right to see a familiar figure sprinting through the snow to greet him.

"Tarble!" a young girl with red hair cried out happily, yet with a noticeable hint of excitement. Tarble laughed as he picked the girl up and spun her around a bit before setting her down. Somewhere off in the distance, Peng and Sagi looked after their daughter with bemusement.

"Aww, did you miss me already? I wasn't gone **that **long, you know," Tarble said jokingly. Suno grinned cheekily.

"Maybe. But more importantly-how do you do that?!" she yelled out excitedly, startling him slightly with her sheer intensity. Tarble chuckled.

"It would take a while to explain, and it would be a lot more boring than you'd think," Tarble replied, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Besides, your mom only agreed to me training you in martial arts on the condition that you don't learn stuff like that."

Suno's eyes widened. "You mean humans can do that too?!" she asked excitedly, to which Tarble chuckled again.

"I suspect a few of them can, yeah," Tarble replied. Outliers had to exist, even if everyone he'd met so far was nowhere near his power. And, of course, he knew from his memories that he was nowhere near the Saiyan elites in terms of power, which always confused him, since he also knew that his father was the king, and that his older brother was even stronger than him. When he was younger, he was always both excited and apprehensive about any bright light he saw in the sky, wondering if it was another Attack Ball sending another of his kind to Earth. He thought he'd seen one land some time after he did, but a neighbor with a penchant for astronomy explained that he had simply glimpsed a small meteor that had crashed not too far from the village. Even so, the thought still lingered in his mind. Pushing it aside for now, he focused on his sister's question. "Which is **precisely **why your mom doesn't want you getting any ideas," he replied, playfully ruffling her hair to her chagrin.

Sagi smiled sadly as she listened to the two of them. It was such a little thing, and yet she couldn't get it out of her mind. 'Your mom.' 'Ma.' He always used some other name for her. He never called her 'Sagi' or anything like that, but...he never just called her 'Mom,' either. It always made her a little sad to think about. He'd started calling Peng 'Daddy' in no time at all-no doubt influenced by how horrible this father of his was, sending an infant off to an alien planet to fight for his life. And yet, when it came to her, she always felt like a substitute for whatever queen lady had raised him out on that red planet somewhere. She had no doubt she was a kind woman and a loving mother, and yet...she couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy.

Tarble himself admitted that all he remembered of her was a single memory right before he left his homeworld. She had found him, nursed him to health, raised him as her own son, for **14 years**...and yet that woman was still 'Mom' in his mind. Her? She was just 'Ma.' Close, perhaps, but, as Sagi could tell all too well, not the same. There was just something about that woman that she herself was missing, it seemed sometimes. Some hidden quality she couldn't hope to match for him to love her as his mother the way he loved her husband as his father. Sagi knew it was wrong to feel what she was feeling about her own son, but nevertheless, the interaction just chipped away at her a little more. Still, in the end, Suno and Tarble were happy. She concluded that that was more than enough.

The two siblings laughed and joked for a few moments more before Tarble's ears, always having been slightly more sensitive than a human's, picked up something approaching the village. Turning to the right, he registered the curious sight just as those closest to the edge of the village were beginning to back away in terror. There was no mistaking it-a tank, emblazoned with a red ribbon holding the letters "R R" in white font, rolled forward along the snow, not seeming to be impeded in the slightest. Flanking it, Tarble could see later, were a handful of men armed with a variety of firearms, all wearing the same uniform with the same symbol emblazoned over their right breasts. As both the soldiers and the tank rolled up to a stop in the center of the village, a plumpier soldier who clearly spent more time behind a desk than in combat hailed the village.

"Greetings!" the man called out to the village's inhabitants. "I am Captain Indigo of the Red Ribbon Army! By order of General White, all able-bodied men shall devote themselves to the task of combing the surrounding area for an object of great value to us! The women, children, and the infirm will set about preparing their homes for the use and comfort of our soldiers! Failure on the part of any member of this village to comply with regulations will bring death upon as many of you as we choose! Do you understand the terms of this arrangement?"

His proclamation was met with a mixture of indignation and nervousness by the spectators, Tarble's family included. After a moment, however, Tarble looked back at them with a determined look they hadn't often seen from the boy. He then looked over to their village chief with a look which said "_Just go along with it. I have a plan." _The chief nodded and held up his hands in surrender.

"We understand. Just give us all a few moments to prepare some necessities."

Captain Indigo paused for a moment before nodding. "This is acceptable. You will have ten minutes!" And just like that, everyone in the village retreated into their homes. The soldiers moved to follow after them to ensure they actually were making preparations to leave, but no sooner had the first ones began to disperse when they ran straight into Tarble, who seemed to move to them in the blink of an eye. Just as the soldiers all paused to wonder at this, the doors locked, and the soldiers were left outside facing down this short teenager.

"I am not a violent person, and I recognize that you soldiers may not necessarily have the same motives as your superiors," Tarble said calmly. "So...I'm giving you one chance to avoid what's going to happen next. Defy your orders, drop your weapons, and leave this organization of yours forever, and I will not consider you my enemy."

The soldier directly in front of him seemed unnerved for a second, but laughed heartily. "Oh yeah? And just what do you think you're going to do against us, you short little freak?" he asked. "Don't you get it? Nobody stops the Red Ribbon Army! Not any of the peasants we've come across, not the Royal Army...and certainly not **you**," he finished with a sneer. Contrary to what he was expecting from the boy, Tarble simply sighed in resignation.

"Very well," he said, before vanishing in the blink of an eye, to the soldiers' astonishment. Before they could even begin to look for him, he reappeared directly behind the man he had spoken to, knocking him out with a swift chop to the back of his head. His fellow soldiers turned around, only for a second to be met with a similar result. At long last, a third soldier, being right next to the second, caught Tarble directly in the face with a shot from his shotgun. To his horror, however, Tarble looked relatively unfazed, blinking a few times to get the dust out of his eyes. This soldier, too, found himself swiftly dispatched.

Captain Indigo looked on in apprehension as Tarble suddenly appeared closer, taking out soldiers left and right faster than he could see. He hurriedly turned to the soldier manning the tank. "Don't just sit there, you imbecile! Fire!" Before he could comply, however, Tarble appeared and sliced off the tank's cannon with a palm strike, leaving it to fall to the ground before the soldier could load it. He then looked up at the man while Captain Indigo stood silently, awed by his power.

"Get out," he said simply, to which the soldier swiftly complied as he looked into Tarble's eyes, and garnered an idea of what he was going to do. Tarble bent down onto his knees and picked up the tank from its front end with both hands, lifting it off of the ground with some slight exertion. He then lifted off into the air with the power of flight. When he was a good distance above the village, he began to spin, swinging the tank around several rotations before finally throwing it off into the distance, towards a nearby mountain which he knew to be barren, where it promptly exploded on impact in a fiery display. Captain Indigo and the soldiers who remained conscious looked up at the floating monkey boy with mortal terror evident in their eyes. He looked down to address the captain, specifically.

"You seem to be a fan of ultimatums," he began snidely. "Here's mine-leave this place, all of you, and do not threaten my family, or my people again! If I see that infernal symbol over the horizon once more, I will not stop with one single squadron. I will travel far and wide to every single outpost, every single command center, every single encampment. I will lay waste to your war machines, and take apart every weapon your soldiers possess. And I will ensure that every soldier in your armies knows the meaning of pain. I will **dismantle **your entire organization. Do you understand?"

Captain Indigo and the others nodded wordlessly before Tarble suddenly disappeared once more, rapidly flitting about among the soldiers. Before anyone could ascertain what exactly was happening, all of their weapons had been ripped out of their hands along with their sidearms, leaving Tarble floating in the air above them once more, with a stack of weapons in his arms. He promptly allowed some ki to flow through both of his hands, incinerating the assorted weapons in a small plume of blue energy. With nothing left to defend themselves with, the conscious soldiers scrambled to pick up their comrades before running away through the snow, en route to their base of operations. Tarble watched them flee until they disappeared over the horizon, then touched back down to earth.

"They're gone!" he called out. "It's safe to come out!" With that, the villagers slowly began to exit their homes, several of them offering their thanks to Tarble for protecting them from these hostile invaders.

"Do you think they'll be coming back?" Suno asked her brother worriedly. Tarble chuckled as he ruffled her hair again.

"I'm not sure-I think I scared them pretty good back there. But, if they do, I'll just beat them up again!" he said with a smile, comforting his sister. Suno smiled as she looked up at Tarble.

"I hope I'll be as tough as you one day, big brother," she replied warmly, to which he chuckled.

"I'm sure you will be, Sunshine," he replied happily, yet he could see a shift in his parents' demeanor which reflected his own inner turmoil. Even with the impression he had left upon their minds...he knew in his gut that this was hardly the last they would see of this 'Red Ribbon Army.'

* * *

"And then he was just moving about all over the place and he cut up the tank with his bare hands and he lifted it up into the air and threw it into a mountain and then he vaporized our guns with a plume of plasma coming right out of his hands and-!"

Captain Indigo was slapped across the face by the somewhat short, yet nevertheless imposing figure of General White.

"Damn it, man! Pull yourself together!" he shouted at his subordinate, cowing him into submission. "Now...from the beginning."

When Captain Indigo finally managed to get through his report on the strange boy, General White sighed as he sat back in his chair, puffing a cigar. To his right, Ninja Murasaki, ever the faithful aide, stood by his side, listening to what his commander had to say.

"Floating monkey children shooting energy out of their hands," he remarked before chuckling. "I really have heard everything."

"If you doubt the good captain's word, General-"

"Oh, no, I'm wholly convinced this kid he's talking about exists. I mean, hell, half of our army is made up of animal-people. A monkey-person isn't too far off. As for the energy blasts, I hear Tao does stuff like that, and once you embrace humans shooting energy blasts from their hands-honestly, how far-fetched is flying by that point?" he asked the ninja, who slowly nodded. White's blunt logic made sense.

"Well, then, what would you suggest we do?"

White raised his eyebrows quizzically, as if Murasaki had asked a dumb question. "Kill the brat. What else?"

Murasaki blanched somewhat at the proposition. "Would it be wise to engage our resources in this manner? He has pledged not to interfere with us provided we leave his little hamlet alone."

White shook his head. "We don't have enough men to comb the area by Commander Red's timetable. We **need **the people of that village. Besides, what reason do we have to trust this kid? For all we know, he's preparing to attack us right as we speak!" The general turned towards the window, looking out over the foreboding landscape. "No. This kid is a loose cannon we can't permit, and he needs to be dealt with **now**."

The ninja nodded slowly, his apprehension evident. "Who do you recommend we send?"

White thought it over. "The monster can't survive in the cold, but the Major and the android the good doctor has built for us were designed to continue functioning in such an environment for extended periods. We'll send them, as well as you and your brothers. Between all seven of you, I have no doubt that you'll be able to put this pest down before he gets too bothersome."

Ninja Murasaki gulped at the idea of facing such a warrior as Captain Indigo described in combat, yet nodded anyway. "As you command, general. I will assemble the team personally."

White grunted in satisfaction, and Murasaki left the room to make his preparations while White looked back out the window, looking off in the direction of the village. "_A shame we can't find a way to use that brat. With powers like that...we'd be even more invincible."_

* * *

All throughout the day, Tarble was left with a foreboding premonition that the Red Ribbon Army would return after all, in greater numbers than before, and catch him unawares. Thus, it came to no surprise that Tarble decided to stay out on a hill overlooking the village after Suno and many of the other villagers had gone to bed, intent upon keeping watch should the Red Ribbon Army plan an attack in the dead of night. For some time, all was quiet, until at last, around midnight, Tarble thought he saw something in the light of his fire: a large figure with a long head and a face which seemed to look similar to the description of a monster Tarble had read about in a novel once. Before he could move to investigate, he found himself trapped by a large gloved hand.

The figure who had snuck up on him promptly lifted him overhead by one arm and slammed him into the rock face, leaving him disoriented as the figure didn't release his grip. Seeing that his target was still alive, the figure then threw him far off into another mountain not too far away, which Tarble was too distracted to stop with the power of flight, crashing into the rock face. Clearing himself away from the rubble with a ki blast, Tarble got a closer look at his adversary: what looked like a large, muscular man with red hair and sunglasses, who looked back at him with an unmoving expression of disapproval. Suddenly, his mouth opened wide, and he fired off a missile at the Saiyan prince, who promptly vaporized it with a ki blast. From this, Tarble easily concluded that this adversary of his was not human, and very likely some sort of mechanical creation solely programmed to deliver death and destruction. Thus, Tarble held no particular regard for holding back against the android, flying over to him at top speed and powering up to maximum in order to cut off his head with a palm strike. In one swift motion, Major Metallitron's head fell to the ground, leaving the rest of him functioning only for a short period before deactivating permanently.

A small yelp of surprise gave away Ninja Murasaki's position, who promptly threw down a smoke bomb to distract the boy while he and his brothers swarmed him all at once. To their horror, Tarble casually dodged all of their attacks before sending out a kiai in all directions, knocking them all backwards and leaving Murasaki's brothers barely conscious. Frozen in fear, Murasaki called out to their last hope.

"Android 8! Get over here!"

Hearing his name with his enhanced auditory systems, the android complied, leaping into the air from his position in the village square and landing in front of Tarble with a loud thud. He looked up at Tarble and waved politely.

"Hello!" he said, leaving Tarble...confused, to say the least.

"Uh...hello?" he said hesitatingly, before asking the blunt question that came to mind. "Aren't you supposed to be trying to kill me?"

Before Android 8 could respond, Murasaki cut in. "Yes! That is **exactly **what you are supposed to be doing! Now do it!"

Android 8 looked to Murasaki with some hesitation before shaking his head. "But I don't want to kill him."

Murasaki looked at him wordlessly, anger clouding his mind. "W-what do you mean?! You're a killing machine! Killing is your sole purpose!"

Android 8 looked at the ninja, puzzled. "Dr. Gero said that I don't have a purpose. Further, since I do not wish to kill, I find it illogical that killing would be my purpose."

This reasoning only served to infuriate the ninja even more. "Ugh, fine! Just **punch **him or something, I don't care!"

Android 8 paused for a second. "Are you a bad person?" he asked Tarble, to which Murasaki facepalmed.

"No," Tarble replied, still puzzled by the whole situation.

Android 8 nodded. "If he's not a bad person, I don't want to punch him, either," he told Murasaki. Murasaki cut in angrily.

"Of course he'd tell you he isn't a bad person, you idiot! He's about to be punched!"

"**Is** he a bad person?" Android 8 asked the ninja, to which he yelled angrily.

"He's a target, and he needs to die!"

Android 8 paused, thinking for a second, before answering. "In my experience, most of your 'targets' are good people. So, the balance of probability dictates that this person is someone who I don't want to punch."

Before Murasaki could say anything else, Tarble moved to hit him with a second kiai, only to find himself yanked to the ground. Tarble at first moved to respond to this annoyance, only to find himself suddenly weakening. It felt as if his own ki was closing itself off from him, like a drain that's been plugged shut. A quick glance found what he'd suspected confirmed: one of the brothers, having just regained consciousness along with two others, had tried to pull him to the ground by his tail, and continued holding onto it once he realized its effect on him. Tarble struggled to fight back against it, but couldn't summon any ki with which to fire a kiai or ki blast, and soon found his head swimming with nausea in addition to this loss of power. Tarble was utterly helpless, a fact immediately taken advantage of by the other brothers, who began attacking him with their kunai and leaving him with several significant injuries, including a kunai straight into his shoulder.

Realizing that the brother's hold on his tail allowed him to be injured, Android 8 leapt into action, kicking the fifth brother in the head and knocking him out cold while causing him to release his grip. Tarble shuddered as his ki came back to him and he blew everyone away with a kiai once more. Android 8 remained by his side, ready to defend the weakened Tarble from the Red Ribbon ninjas' assault. This action only served to enrage Murasaki, who swiftly pulled out a remote control of some kind.

"You will soon regret your actions, traitor!" he proclaimed as he moved to push the button, only for Tarble to pierce the remote control with a ki blast at the last moment. Frightened by the rapid attack, Murasaki began to retreat, holding Tarble's attention a few seconds longer than it should've. He realized this error all too quickly, as he soon heard a button press down from behind him.

"_They all had remotes-" _he thought quickly before Android 8 exploded in a massive plume of..."_Ki?" _Tarble thought before he was consumed by the blast, sending him flying into the rocks. Ironically, Tarble blowing the ninja away with a kiai saved them, leaving them barely out of the blast radius. Tarble looked up groggily at Murasaki as he put his foot down upon Tarble's loose tail, triggering his weakness once more while he held a sword in front of Tarble's face with his left hand. He seemed to come close to killing him, before reconsidering the idea.

"With such an easily exploited weakness...you may yet be of use," Murasaki remarked, just before he hit Tarble in the head with the hilt of his sword, forcing the boy to rapidly drift into unconsciousness.

* * *

When he woke, he was tied down to a surgical bench, and looked around the room with an intense feeling of nausea. His hand had evidently been bandaged up while he was out, along with his other injuries. He only became conscious of the strange clamping sensation at the tip of his tail a moment later, and put two and two together. In his head, he cursed his father-the one thing his memories didn't seem to have included, and it nearly kills him! He also couldn't take away all of the blame-how nobody had figured out this weakness in his tail for 14 years was a question for after he broke out of the Red Ribbon Army's base. While he mulled over a potential escape plan, a middle aged man, perhaps in his 50s, with a flowing moustache and dressed in a lab coat walked up to him and stuck a syringe into his arm, taking a blood sample.

"So many curious things about you. To have defeated the Major so easily..." he remarked idly. "I can't wait to take a closer look at what makes you tick." With that, he was gone, leaving Tarble alone for a moment before another old man walked in, this one considerably more muscular and flanked by several of Murasaki's brothers.

"Well, then...we meet at last," General White began. "Name's General White. I run this place. And you are?"

Tarble refused to answer, plagued by nausea and defiant against his captors.

"Hm. I see. Well, it was a pointless question, anyway. I already know the answer. I simply wanted to see how much you were willing to fess up."

Tarble continued looking at him impassively, although he began to worry. White sensed this and continued speaking, a sneer forming across his face.

"That red-haired brat was **begging **for her 'big brother' to rescue her."

Tarble strained against the restraints as much as he could in his condition, very nearly reaching White's face.

"If you hurt so much as a **hair **on her head, I will make you regret it!" he shouted. White laughed heartily.

"Ah, splendid! Just the reaction I wanted! Well, don't worry, Tarble-as long as you cooperate, she and her mommy won't be harmed. I have them here along with that idiot chief of yours, to make sure your people don't try to follow your example." Tarble growled as he considered White's statement.

"What do you want?" he asked angrily. White chuckled.

"Why, **you**, of course! I boast some of the mightiest warriors and machines in the entire army, and you decimated all of them without much effort at all! If it weren't for that weakness of yours, you could've been a big problem! That kind of strength has its uses to people like me."

Tarble scoffed. "And I assume you have this clamp here to ensure that I cooperate?" White smiled and nodded.

"That's right. And don't think you can remove it, either-the good doctor, mad as he is, made sure to design it so that it couldn't possibly be removed, whether by your fancy energy blasts or sheer strength. Your every action will be monitored by a highly sophisticated security system designed by the good doctor. The slightest hint of disloyalty or the intention of escaping will be met with the immediate deaths of your mother and sister, as well as the village chief. You have no choice but to submit to us...or you'll be left powerless as you hear your family die from the monitors. Got it?"

Tarble bit down the fury building up in his head, and nodded angrily. White chuckled, and gestured for his men to release Tarble and cart him off. Tarble, as expected, gave no resistance. "_Not now," _he thought. "_Not yet." _However, before he left, he turned to face White, stopping in his tracks. White looked at him with amusement.

"Yes?" he asked merrily.

"...You killed a good man," Tarble replied simply. "I'm going to make sure you pay for that, and all of your other crimes."

White simply smiled wider before his guards dragged Tarble up the stairs to the third floor, the room which would become his prison under the Red Ribbon Army's care.

* * *

For over a month, not much changed. Tarble was given food at regular intervals, which he ate when he couldn't stand the hunger any longer. He had free reign of the third floor room, insofar as he didn't attempt to escape its confines, and for most of his time, he trained, being sure not to accidentally damage any of White's equipment in the process in order to ensure his family were kept safe. Tarble was at least relieved that his captors kept their end of White's black bargain, as it gave him time to think about his situation.

One thing he noticed about the clamp on his tail was that sitting a certain way clamped it down; thus, he made sure to sit for brief intervals, doing everything in his power not to give away his weakness by sitting in his chair with his head in his arms, hiding his drooping eyes and nausea from sight and making it look like he was napping. When he was confident that he wasn't being scrutinized on this point, he shifted tactics, favoring meditation instead, drastically increasing the amount of time he spent with his tail clamped. In this manner, the nausea he felt slowly began to decline as he got used to the sensation, learning how to safeguard more of his ki from the tail's effect little by little. Every day was spent in the effort to grow stronger and overcome his weakness, until he could save his family. But, alas, the nausea still had not faded, so for the time being, Tarble was left to wait.

"_Soon," _he thought. "_Soon...I will get my chance."_

* * *

That very afternoon, a plane sailed through the sky on a collision course, its robotic pilot evidently having shut down from cold which it was not accustomed to. The boy inside, having reacted to the situation too late, could do nothing as it crashed into the snow, decimating the plane and its pilot and leaving its occupant unconscious. An hour later, while wandering on her own search for this mysterious spherical object her people's captors were so intent upon finding, a young girl found the boy in the wreckage and pulled him free. Realizing he was nearly frozen from the cold, she slowly began the task of dragging him to her house. However, before she could begin to do so, she let out a cry of shock. This boy, who had just randomly crash landed just outside of Jingle Village, had the same long brown tail as her village's favorite resident. After getting over her initial surprise, she was left with more questions than answers, and resolved to ask the strange boy all of them once she brought him back to her home.

After half an hour's walk through the bitter cold, Son Goku was brought into Jingle Village.

* * *

Annnd done! I know I said it'd be a while, but honestly, after reading some really good DBZ fanfics(shout out to Cerric's Strength of Many and SSVCloud's Tales of the Monkey Queen), I just really wanted to expand upon this story a bit. Think of this as kind of the second half of the introductory prologue, where Tarble's story is expanded and brought into the broader events of Dragon Ball's story. So now, the two monkey boys will meet each other at last!

Anyway, time for some responses!

Secret says:

"I'm liking it so far. Did you decide who to pair him with? I can't wait to read the next chapter"

Thanks! Unfortunately, that's a pretty major spoiler, so I'll hold off on that for now. You'll probably be able to guess soon enough, though.

Lord Martiya says:

"Well, the Red Ribbon is in for quite the surprise in a few years..."

Can I just say your timing on this was perfection?

Also, idk about precise power levels, but I think I've got a decent idea where Tarble should be for events that I want him to take part in. So, I'm not going to give any numbers, but the strength relationship will be obvious.

Anyway, with all that said, thank you all for reading, I hope you all have a fantastic day, and take care.


	3. Son Goku

In a small house not too far from the humble abode Tarble had called his home for 14 years, a young child, barely over the age of 12, was left wrapped up in blankets by the fireplace. After being unconscious for hours, he awoke to the smell of something cooking in the kitchen.

"Mmmm. What's cooking?" he asked aloud, to no one in particular, as he rubbed his eyes and got his bearings. A young girl could be heard from the kitchen, tugging at the skirt of an older woman.

"Mama! Mama! He's awake!"

The old woman, who had evidently been cooking prior to the boy waking up, was pulled out of the kitchen by her energetic daughter, to find that, indeed, the frostbitten child seemed to be awake, and not too worse for wear considering his circumstances. The boy turned to the pair of them, confused.

"Wait a second, where am I?" he asked, having come back to his senses for the most part.

"You're in Jingle Village!" the young girl replied. "My name's Yuki. What's yours?"

Goku nodded before grinning slightly.

"Name's Goku!" he replied. "Jingle Village, huh?" He reached into his pocket for a familiar device, and upon pulling it out, fiddled with it for a minute. "Hm...looks like the ball's a good deal north. Should be able to just walk on over and get it!"

"Wait a minute...what's this about a ball?" the older woman asked.

"The Dragon Balls! I've been looking to find my grandpa's old four-star ball, so I've been searching for them! When you grab all seven of them, you can summon a magical dragon who'll grant any wish!"

"And...you say one of these 'Dragon Balls' is around here?" the older woman continued nervously.

Goku nodded. "Looks like...ten miles north," he said, holding up the monitor of the Dragon Radar for the villagers' inspection. The older woman's eyes widened as she examined the location displayed on the screen.

"...That's Muscle Tower," she replied, horror in her voice, as her daughter likewise grew concerned. Goku, however, cocked his head in confusion.

"Muscle Tower? What, is it shaped like a muscle, or-?"

The window into the living room shattered, a bullet piercing through Goku's hair and into the wall as shattered glass was scattered about the floor.

"All of you, out of your homes, **now**!" a soldier bellowed from the outside, leaving Yuki and her mother to cower in fright. Goku, however, was more annoyed than anything else, rushing out the door to confront the soldier, who jumped back in surprise.

"What's the big idea, shooting at someone like that?" Goku asked angrily. The soldier didn't respond, however, as he and his fellow soldiers in the square were left frozen in terror.

"Oh God...**there's more of them**!" the soldier cried frantically, sending the soldiers into a panic. "Kill it, quickly!" Without any further ado, the leading soldier shot Goku in the face, the rifle bullet doing little more than bouncing off of his forehead and leaving a painful welt where it struck. The others moved to charge the boy with bayonets, machetes, and various other weapons, some of them hoping to flank him from behind and grab the end of his tail. However, Goku was far too fast for them to catch as he disappeared from sight, only to reappear where the furthest had been some time before. Goku cupped his hands together and let out a low powered version of his signature technique.

"Kamehameha!" he cried out, firing off a ki blast from his hands and enveloping all of the soldiers. With little power behind it, the beam was just enough to blast them all backwards, singing off parts of their clothes and damaging their weapons as they all slipped into unconsciousness. Goku sighed deeply, satisfied they were all defeated, before turning to Yuki and her mother with a smile.

"Man, these Red Ribbon guys sure are jerks, huh?" he asked to no one in particular, while the two looked at him in awe alongside other villagers who cautiously left the relative safety of their homes to investigate the noise.

"Incredible..." Yuki's mother muttered. "He's strong, just like him..."

Goku was left puzzled by the people's reaction, but shrugged and checked his Dragon Radar again. "Well, that was kinda fun, but I should probably head out to this tower and grab the Dragon Ball now." With that, he began to head off, before Yuki stopped him.

"Wait!" she called out, causing him to turn around. "B-before you go, you should know: those army guys are holding some of our people!"

Goku's eyes widened slightly. "Who?"

"Our chief," one of the villagers elaborated. "Not to mention the family of an older boy, Tarble, who's very much like yourself. The soldiers took them to ensure that he'd work with them."

Goku nodded slowly, lost in thought. "'Like me?' What do you mean by that?" Goku asked.

The villagers paused for a second, unsure how to answer, before Yuki's mother spoke up. "Well, he's remarkably strong, and he has a tail, just like yours." This more than anything else piqued Goku's interest. He'd long ago grasped that humans didn't have tails, so he'd figured he was different from normal humans somehow-a one of a kind oddity. But, to hear that someone else like him existed was definitely exciting. The village kids quickly piled on.

"He can shoot lasers out of his hands!" a young boy exclaimed excitedly.

"And fly through the sky!" Yuki added.

"He threw a tank into a mountain!" another girl proclaimed.

"He took a shotgun shell right to the face!" another boy added on, each piece of information further exciting both the children and Goku, who began grinning widely at the prospect of potentially fighting such an evidently strong and capable foe.

"Alrighty! I'll be sure to bring all of your people back safe and sound!" Goku said, determination shining in his eyes as he took off at top speed towards the tower, intent upon seeing this interesting person for himself.

* * *

General White held the Dragon Ball in the palm of his hand, watching how the light from the window reflected off of it. The doctor from before stood in a shadowy corner of the room.

"Heh. That dumb android was more clever than I gave him credit for," White remarked.

"I must apologize for my creation's behavior, General. It has severely hampered our efforts," the doctor replied, but White brushed him off.

"Ah, so you messed up the programming a bit. It happens. You've always got the next model to work on, right?"

The doctor nodded. "Even so, it is still a most regrettable setback."

"Well, in any event, it's done now. I'm taking the ball to headquarters first thing tomorrow, once the boys have cleaned house."

The doctor nodded. "If it's not too much to ask, I would like your permission to remain here, and examine the boy more closely."

White considered this, murmuring to himself. "Ever since that incident with Silver the other day, I'd say that's a good idea. But...the brat would be pretty useful in helping to grab the rest of these things."

"Of course, were he removed from his family's proximity, he may feel less inclined to cooperate in our efforts."

White nodded. "A fair point." After a moment he sighed. "I suppose you can have him for a while, but I'm warning you: the boss will be expecting something to show for all of your troubles."

The doctor smiled widely, his perfectly white teeth making for a terrifying visage in the shadows of the corner.

"Ohoho, believe me...it will be well worth the effort."

Meanwhile, Tarble sat meditating in his chair, the clamp having been active around his tail for hours, before he heard a familiar set of footfalls coming down the stairs and quickly sat up. Murasaki walked into his chamber nonchalantly, as if the boy hadn't beaten him and his brothers into submission only a month before.

"Good evening, Tarble. I trust you're well?" the ninja asked with mocking politeness. Tarble simply scoffed, causing the ninja to chuckle. "Well, I just thought you should know that we finally located the Dragon Ball we've devoted ourselves to finding for so long."

Tarble tried to look unconcerned, but it didn't quite work. "Is that so?"

"You'll never guess where we found it," he replied cheerily. "That traitorous piece of scrap metal had apparently located it before any of our men. He'd hidden it in his quarters along with a bunch of other trinkets." Tarble growled slightly as Murasaki continued. "It's probably our fault, really. Somebody must have mentioned the Clean House Protocol within earshot."

Tarble began to pale slightly as the ninja said the words, causing him to grin at the boy. "Clean House Protocol?"

"Oh, I'm surprised you haven't heard of it!" Murasaki replied. "Well, not too much to tell there. Let's just say...the Army doesn't like leaving witnesses."

Tarble's eyes widened slowly as he put it all together, before his fists began shaking violently. "All those men...the women and children...you're..." After a few seconds, Tarble's rage exploded, to the point where he didn't even register the clamp coming down upon his tail.

"YOU BASTARD!" he cried out angrily as he lunged at Murasaki, his weakened state allowing Murasaki to narrowly dodge his attacks before replying in kind, nicking him across the cheek with his sword and causing him to fall to the ground.

"Given your attachment to those pathetic people, I'm going to do you a favor and restrain myself from speaking of this," the ninja said coldly before sneering at the boy. "Just count your blessings that the ones we're holding here are safe and sound. After all...you're going to be with us for a **long **time." Murasaki laughed maniacally before the two of them heard a loud crash. Seconds later, a klaxon rang out throughout the base, and a transmission cut in through the communications terminal in the corner of the room.

"This is Private-ah, hell, what was it?! Uh, Cream? Y-yeah! Private Cream, to base! We're under attack by a child matching the description of the fugitive! Our weapons aren't doing anything against him! Please, we must have immediate assista-!"

The transmission cut out as quickly as it began, signaling that the intruder had silenced Cream unexpectedly.

"...Those men were on the second floor," Murasaki muttered, before making up his mind, heading upstairs and only bothering to release Tarble's clamp when he was safely out of Tarble's immediate range. The P.A. system in the room flared to life as White relayed instructions to the Saiyan.

"Don't forget what happens if you step out of line, freak!" he bellowed before shutting off the line, leaving Tarble alone to face whoever this "fugitive" of theirs was. He reluctantly readied his fists, wondering at the kind of power that the assailant possessed, when the boy in question leapt over the last few stairs and landed in the room with a flip...and leaving Tarble completely speechless.

* * *

Goku looked around until his eyes fell upon an older boy who, just as the villagers had said, had a tail, albeit one that seemed to be bound by a strange device. He took note of his unimpressive height and build, yet concluded that it was too early to draw conclusions on his strength, particularly if what the villagers had told him was true. He waved to the boy, grinning widely.

"Hi! My name's Goku! Are you Tarble?"

Tarble, however, simply sat there examining him, looking over every detail.

"_The Saiyan growth spurt is around age 16 or 17, so he can't be my age. But...that light...I saw it a year after I came here, so if that was his pod, he would've been 3 when I was 4, and I'm 17 now. Unless...he was never incubated? That would make him 12 or 13...far more plausible. But why would he never be incubated? Even the poorest of Saiyans can afford it-it's government subsidized!"_

"Uh...hello?"

"_He clearly discarded his armor. That garb...reminiscent of martial arts outfits I saw in a movie once. Is he part of a martial arts school? But he must be a long way away from his masters in that case. And he seems so...cheerful. Why isn't he fulfilling his mission?"_

"Okay, I'm a little creeped right now."

"_If he's part of a school, he obviously hasn't killed his masters, and I doubt a martial arts school would tolerate him traveling the world and cleansing the populace. So he isn't fulfilling his mission...perhaps he's similar to me? Except...he also looks like he's itching for a fight. Curiouser and curiouser..."_

Goku, having more than enough of the awkward silence, pulled out his Power Pole and swung wide.

"Power Pole Extend!" he cried out, only for the extending pole to be caught at the last second before it hit Tarble's face. Without missing a beat, he tossed it back, sending it spinning towards Goku as he barely managed to duck. The pole embedded itself into a monitor, leaving Goku unarmed. Tarble sighed as he looked over Goku further.

"_There's a lot I want to ask him...but that'll have to wait."_

With that, he took off flying towards Goku, making sure to limit himself as he attempted to swing a punch at him. Goku, still being unable to react even as Tarble held back, was sent flying into another monitor. Goku got back up with a groan.

"_Man...this dude sure hits hard," _Goku thought before brightening up at the prospect of a good fight. He kicked off the ground and attempted to land a hit on the boy, who seemed to be unable to react to it as he too was sent flying into the wall, breaking more monitors. The boy staggered up to his feet, apparently too slow to respond to another kick which sent him back into the wall. Goku paused to allow Tarble to get up again, but Tarble instead was left standing, hunched over as if he was barely restraining something. Goku took a step forward out of concern.

"Hey, are you-?"

"HYAAA!" Tarble cried as he let out a massive kiai, powerful enough to send shockwaves throughout the room which annihilated every monitor and mic on the floor, as well as power lines throughout the base. Goku was sent sprawling backwards by its explosive force, landing hard on a wall. As his head spun, Goku struggled to focus onto Tarble quickly flying towards him and landing by his side.

"I think I knocked out the microphones. The next floor is higher up-we should be able to speak freely," Tarble began, holding out a hand to Goku, who took it with some confusion. "Of course, they might have a tracker on this clamp thing, so I'd suggest continuing to fight while we talk."

Goku nodded, the plan making sense, and the two rushed at each other, sparring.

"So, what does that clamp do, anyway?" The question surprised Tarble somewhat.

"You mean you were not aware of your weakness, either?" Tarble asked, to which Goku cocked his head in confusion. "Well, when something presses down on the end of our tails, it cuts off the flow of ki from the rest of our body, rendering us weak and susceptible to attack."

Goku nodded. "Oh, yeah, I know about that! I've known since I was a kid!"

After another moment of fighting, Goku asked another question. "I'm guessing you can't just rip it off?" Goku asked, tilting his head towards the clamp. Tarble shook his head.

"They told me it was strong enough to withstand my maximum power," Tarble replied. "Plus, if I tried to remove it while the cameras were active, they would go ahead and kill the hostages."

Goku nodded, thinking for a second, before a thought struck him. "But...if you weren't going to do it because they could see you all the time...would they **need **to make it strong enough so that you **couldn't **rip it off?"

Tarble was confused for a second before his eyes went wide, accepting Goku's blunt logic. He suddenly stopped their sparring match and flicked his tail, the clamp moving along with it until it was at a suitable position. Then, he leaned down and tore at the clamp bindings with all of his power, easily tearing it off and causing him to wince in pain. He looked at it wordlessly for a moment before growling angrily and crushing the device in his hands, turning it into little more than a ball of scrap metal.

"Well, if they don't know I've rebelled yet, they definitely will now," Tarble remarked. "We need to hurry."

"Don't need to tell me twice!" Goku replied as he and Tarble took off at maximum speed up the stairwell.

* * *

Meanwhile, White growled in frustration before barking orders into a walkie talkie.

"The freaks are working together! Little monkey bastard called our bluff! Get the hostages up to the roof and into the chopper, now!"

These instructions laid out, White angrily put on a winter coat while the doctor stood by patiently, picking up the Dragon Ball in his hand and examining it for a few seconds.

"Hm. A regrettable situation, but at least you are responding to it rationally," the doctor replied, tossing the ball to him. White caught it angrily.

"Wouldn't have had to if you could have made a tougher restraint."

"To be fair, I only had so long. You will not **believe **how much I had to inject into that young man to put him under."

White simply growled. "Whatever! Come with me."

The doctor smiled. "Not to worry. I have...alternative transportation prepared. Good day to you, General."

The general scoffed before stomping off to the emergency exit, heading out to the roof where his helicopter awaited. Gero, meanwhile, walked calmly down the hall and down the stairs into the chamber above Murasaki's forest chamber where Android 8's quarters had been. After opening the door, he was about to step inside when he heard a loud noise behind him. One of the Murasaki brothers, the same one who had first exploited Tarble's weakness, landed with a thud just inches away from him. He turned himself over with a supreme effort and looked up at the doctor.

"Doctor! Doctor, please, you have to help me escape! Those freaks-they came out of nowhere they moved faster than I could see and I don't know how to stop them I-!"

The doctor leaned down and plucked a stray hair from the ninja's sword, evidently cleaved off at some point, and examined it closely.

"Ah...this must be from the other one," he remarked, while the ninja looked on in panic as he heard a distinctive thud from below. The doctor walked away with the hair, leaving the ninja to frantically move towards the open door.

"Doctor, please!" he called out, but the doctor had already moved to close the door. When the ninja reached for his coat, the door shut, crushing his fingers and leaving him to cry out in agony. He got up and tried to open the door, clutching his broken fingers, but found it had been locked behind him. No sooner had he realized this than he heard a whoosh of air behind him, and turned around to see Tarble floating at the top of the stairs.

"Oh no...no, no, no, no, no, NO-!" the ninja cried out before Tarble rushed towards him and knocked him unconscious in a single violent blow, leaving a dent in the door, before continuing onwards alongside Goku, who had to struggle to catch up to him on foot. Meanwhile, the doctor walked through the android's old quarters until he came upon what appeared to be an ordinary wall with symbols on it. He pushed down on some of the symbols, and the wall parted to reveal an elevator to a subterranean level of the complex. As he stepped in, he began to hum an old song he'd loved in his youth, the doors beginning to hiss closed as he finished the song aloud.

"If I only had a heart..."

* * *

The two Saiyans raced up the stairwell through the 5th floor, before Tarble came upon the 6th, Goku lagging behind. When he flew in, he saw to his frustration that nobody was there, and that all that remained was a walkie talkie. He turned around towards Goku just as he too ran into the room.

"White's fled, which means he's probably taken the hostages and this 'Dragon Ball' with him," Tarble explained. "Let's see if we can't go up to the top and intercept-"

"Drop 'em!"

White's voice cut in on the walkie talkie, triggering the control room's voice activated controls and opening a trap door directly beneath Goku and Tarble. Tarble managed to float in order to avoid falling in, but his surprise meant he was too late to save Goku as he fell into the pit below. For a moment, he considered going after Goku, only to hear the sounds of a helicopter motor starting up. Tarble grimaced before powering up fully.

"I'm sorry! I'll come back for you when I can!" Tarble called out to the shut trapdoor, hoping that Goku could hear him somehow, before taking off and smashing straight through the window. When he emerged into the snowy skies, he had to squint to spot the helicopter about to take off at the very top of the tower. Nevertheless, a quick burst of speed found General White within his line of sight, who had evidently been holding a gun to Sagi's head.

With a cry of anger, Tarble flew at top speed towards White, tackling him out through the helicopter and onto the platform. Pinned by a Saiyan far stronger than him, White's only chance was in exploiting Tarble's weakness, which he managed to do with his free hand while the boy was consumed by rage. With a start, Tarble realized what was happening to him, and White took the opportunity to take hold of Tarble and headbutt him in the face. With the Saiyan off of him, White had some room to maneuver, pulling out a remote, before Tarble was upon him again, tackling him to the ground once more.

"Stay. Down," he said fiercely. White, however, simply chuckled.

"So...you're finally on top, huh, monkey boy? What did you think was gonna happen after this, huh? Thought you could just take us all out, get the wish for yourself, maybe bring that walking pile of scrap metal back, go back to living happy ever after with your fake family?" White laughed in between bouts of pain. "Let me tell you something I learned a long time ago, kid-never delude yourself with optimistic fantasies. The real world is a cruel, harsh, unforgiving place. And it doesn't want to give you a happy ending. You know why? Because every little thing you care so much about? It can be taken away in the blink of an eye."

He pushed the button down on the remote a second after Tarble noticed he held it, and within another second, explosives rigged within the helicopter went off, consuming the entire vehicle in one massive blaze of glory. Tarble looked off at the smoking remains in shock, while White simply sneered.

"Just. Like. That."

Tarble's eyes filled with tears as he identified the burnt out remains of the village chief, Suno, and Sagi. He couldn't even find the words to express everything that was going through his head, and thus simply resorted to simple disbelief...and a word he'd never spoken aloud before.

"**Mom**...Suno...Suno, Mom, please, don't...don't-!" Tarble choked up for a second, letting out a strangled cry before breaking down completely, falling to his knees as tears clouded his vision. The next moment, however, he was overcome by a rage greater than any he had ever experienced. His cry of anguish accompanied a dramatic rise in power, the resulting kiai sending out shockwaves powerful enough to shake the entire building, and sending White off of the platform and falling to the ground below. Registering this, Tarble had just enough presence of mind to take off down the tower and catch White before he died against the snowy ground below.

"Wha...why would you-?" White asked, which was as far as he got before Tarble slammed his head into a wall. After several repeated hits, each one delivered with greater intensity, a voice within Tarble's mind, small and faint in light of his immense rage, told him that the man would likely die if he slammed him against the wall once more. With a few seconds of hesitation, Tarble tossed the defeated general to the ground unceremoniously, his blood beginning to seep into the snow and the Dragon Ball in his pocket rolling to the ground. Still enraged, Tarble fired off a ki blast in a random direction to quench this newfound thirst to inflict damage of some kind. After a few moments, he had calmed down enough to look back upon the general's body, and recoil in horror.

Forced to cope with what he had just done, Tarble was thankfully spared too much additional trauma by a sudden Kamehameha tearing through the structure, allowing a cold breeze to blow into the 5th floor. An inhuman shriek gave way to silence, then to the sound of a massive ice sculpture shattering. Within minutes, Goku had made his way back into the sixth floor of the tower, and then eventually made his way to the roof and spotted Tarble below. After climbing down with the help of his Power Pole, Tarble tried his best to explain the situation to Goku.

"He...he made it to the roof, but I tackled him to the ground. He grabbed my tail, then pushed a button and...and..." Tarble paused as Goku started to connect the dots, in his own simple way.

"Your family?" he asked simply, to which Tarble nodded before breaking down crying all over again. Goku swiftly moved to comfort the older boy, despite having no knowledge of how to proceed.

"I-I just, I-the thought of losing everyone, I just snapped, and-and before I knew it, I..."

Goku nodded again. "Hey, it's okay. He was a big jerk, he deserved it!"

"B-but I came so close to-!"

"But you **didn't**, right? It all worked out. Although...we should probably take him to one of those...what do you call them again?"

"...Hospitals?"

Goku snapped his fingers. "There you go! Those are the places!" His attention then fell upon the ball lying in the snow. "Oh! And you got the Dragon Ball too!" He picked it up and examined the number of stars on the ball, before looking away, disappointed. "Ah, dang it! It's only the two-star ball."

As Goku rummaged around for the Dragon Radar, Tarble asked him a question. "General White...he mentioned a wish?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah! When you get all seven of the Dragon Balls together, you can summon a magic dragon that'll grant any wish!"

"...**Any **wish?" Tarble asked, a slight kindle of hope burning in his heart.

Goku paused before his eyes widened. "Ohhh, that's a great idea! Shenron has a lot of power-he might be able to bring your family back to life again!"

"A-and Android 8, who died trying to save me! And everyone else that the Red Ribbon Army has killed!"

"Yeah! We can do it!" Goku said before thinking it over. "I-I mean, if you don't want to come along, obviously that's-"

Tarble held up a hand. "Goku...I swear to you, to whatever power that may be, that until all seven of those Dragon Balls are in my possession...I will have no other goal in life."

Goku spaced out for a second before nodding. "Cool! Well, then, why not head for the next-?" Before Goku could finish his thought, however, he got a good look at the Dragon Radar. "Oh, no."

"What? What is it?"

"The Dragon Radar isn't displaying anything! It must be broken!" Goku replied, exasperated, before brightening up again. "Fortunately, I know someone who can fix it!"

"And who is that?"

"Bulma! She's the one who built it in the first place!"

"Interesting. You know where she lives?"

"Hm...I think she called it West City?"

"Ah! I think I know where that is! I could take you there!"

"Well, that's nice of you! I would've preferred Nimbus, but since it was blown up by those Red Ribbon jerks, I guess you could just carry me there..."

Tarble decided not to bother to ask what a Flying Nimbus was, instead setting out on more important tasks. "Before we depart...there are some things I must take care of around here. Will you wait in the village until then?"

Goku nodded. "Sure thing!" Tarble nodded in turn, and solemnly took off into the sky, grabbing White's unconscious body and what remained of the hostages' corpses and carrying them by air to the village. Goku, meanwhile, spotted what appeared to be a Red Ribbon vehicle in the distance, and swiftly turned around, running at top speed towards it.

* * *

While some of the women treated the general's wounds and left him restrained, a handful of others were left with the task of laying the burnt, blackened remains of Sagi, Suno, and the village chief into wooden coffins in their one place of worship. At Tarble's request, air holes were poked into them, and although the people were skeptical about the power of these Dragon Balls, they nevertheless held on to that slight hope that the legend was true after all.

Of particular interest to Tarble, however, were the comments of an old man who appeared while they laid the bodies. When discussing his coming journey with some of the villagers, he mentioned this "Nimbus" of Goku's off-handedly, and the old man proceeded to describe what he knew about them. From what he said, it seemed unlikely that a Nimbus could be destroyed by conventional weapons.

"Hm...can only the cloud's owner summon it?" Tarble asked the man as they walked outside, several of the women dragging the general out behind them. He scratched his head before nodding.

"As far as I know, yeah. So, you'll have to wait for this Goku fellow to come back."

Almost as if he had summoned the young boy by his words, Goku arrived running at top speed, slightly exhausted.

"Alright, I'm back! Is there anything else you need to do?" Goku asked. Tarble thought the question over.

"Well, there was one thing that came up. Goku...have you tried calling your cloud?"

Goku cocked his head in confusion.

"It blew up. Why would I do that?"

"Old Man Hill seems to think that it's still out there."

"Hm...well, if you say so." Goku cupped his hands in front of his face as he called out, "NIMBUS!" After a moment, the faithful cloud could be seen flying over the horizon, before coming to a stop in front of Goku and Tarble. "Ha-hey, it worked!" Goku said excitedly, while Tarble simply smiled.

"I must say you have some rather strange equipment at your disposal, Goku." Goku simply grinned.

"I'll have to tell you how I got it sometime!" Tarble chuckled and placed a foot onto the cloud, only to find that it passed right through. Goku looked over at him, puzzled.

"Huh. The cloud lets anyone with a pure heart ride it-I was sure it'd let you on."

Tarble looked at his foot, unsure what exactly the cloud's rejection meant, before brushing it aside with an awkward chuckle. "I-I guess I'll just fly alongside you!"

"That works!" Goku replied, completely missing the tone shift.

Tarble nodded before looking over to the general. "It's not safe for us to keep him here. We'll have to drop him off at the nearest city. I'm vaguely familiar with its location."

"Well, then, what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

Tarble smiled. "Just...give me a moment to say goodbye, will you?" Goku nodded, and the villagers gathered around to hear him speak. Just as he was about to, however, he spotted a group of figures in the distance, one of whom looked almost exactly like…

"Father?!" he cried out in surprise. Peng evidently saw him as well, for he quickened his pace just as Tarble flew towards him as fast as he could, wrapping him up in a fierce hug.

"Tarble! Oh, thank heavens!" Peng said in relief, before his expression darkened. "When Goku told me what happened to Sagi...to Suno, I..."

Tarble wrapped him up tighter, tears threatening to come out. "They told me all the men were going to be executed."

Peng nodded. "They had piled us all into a truck and were heading back to their base, but Goku stopped them in their tracks and freed us. What's more, he said that the two of you had beaten up every Red Ribbon soldier here!"

Tarble smiled slightly before sighing as Peng looked over his shoulder at the unconscious figure of the general. "Dad...after what he did, I-"

"I can imagine," Peng replied. "If I were in your place, you would've had to pull me away to stop me from breaking his skull in."

Tarble nodded, the tears intensifying. "I...I **wanted **to. I wanted to hurt him-to **keep **hurting him, for what he did."

Peng looked at Tarble for a moment before everything clicked. "You're worried about this temper Saiyans seem to have, huh?" Tarble nodded, before Peng placed a hand on his shoulder. "Well...at the end of the day, you are the only master of your own nature. You aren't defined by whatever common trend your people have. You have your own values, your own beliefs-lines you know that you'll never cross. And as long as you keep that in mind...I trust that you can keep yourself from crossing those lines. Okay?" Tarble nodded, letting his head rest in his father's chest for a moment before pulling away. "Now then...I believe you were going to say something?" He beckoned to the crowd, urging Tarble to address them. Tarble smiled and began to hover off the ground so he could be seen by everyone.

"Friends...family...neighbors. In the last fourteen years, you all have graced me with such kindness and respect, in spite of my origins. You have all taught me what it means to be a good person, and since my arrival, I have done my best to give back what I can as thanks. In the wake of this horrific event...I regret that I must leave you now. I must leave my home behind, the only place...I've really thought of as a home. As you know, I intend to seek out the artifacts the Red Ribbon Army is pursuing. It is my hope that, if the legend is true, their power may be able to right the injustices that have been committed here today by men like this." He gestured to the unconscious general before continuing. "But more than that...I made the Red Ribbon Army a promise. A promise that, should they threaten my loved ones again, I will end their organization with my own two hands. And I **never **break promises." This vow elicited a cheer from the crowd, who all shouted words of encouragement as Goku climbed onto his Nimbus with the general lifted up over his shoulder, while Tarble hovered higher above the ground. "I shall return when the Red Ribbon Army has been vanquished, and with all seven of these Dragon Balls in my possession! Until we meet again!"

The villagers cheered and called out encouragement, Peng's voice being the loudest among them in spite of his recent grief. Carried upwards by the villagers' belief in them, Tarble and Goku took off as fast as they could in the direction of the nearest city, the weight of the quest they had now undertaken making its influence known on both of their minds, and filling them with determination.

* * *

Whew! And done!

Wow, this one's a lot bigger than my previous chapters, but then again, we're finally getting into things! The two monkey boys' stories have collided, and we are now seeing the results of that collision firsthand! Let's see what happens over the rest of their story, huh?

Thinking I might hold off on power levels still, and I only got one review, so...

KakashiHatakeDFS says:

"i'm loving this already! have you come up with a schedule for release dates or is it just post-as-you-go?"

Post-as-I-go. I thought about scheduling it, but ultimately I figured it was already enough of a hassle maintaining the schedule for Hermit. It'd be far easier to simply work on it when inspiration strikes. Perhaps in the future, when things in my personal life are a bit more calm, I could consider some kind of schedule. If I did, it'd probably be bi-weekly on Sundays, alternating with Hermit. So every week you don't get Hermit, you get Forgotten Son. But, again, for now, holding off on setting that in stone.

Anyway, with all that said, hope you guys enjoy, have yourselves a fantastic night, and take care!

(Edit 7/8/19): After rereading early Dragon Ball, I realized Goku actually does know of his weakness, so I made a slight alteration to accommodate for this.


	4. Assembling the Party

"So...I ain't human?"

Goku sat comfortably atop his Flying Nimbus, the unconscious General White having been left with the police of the nearest city, Rose City. Flying close alongside him was Tarble, who didn't seem all that tired even after hours of flying en route to West City. The older boy nodded in response to Goku's question.

"No. You are a Saiyan, from a planet known as Planet Vegeta. You were sent to Earth by your parents about...how old are you again?"

"13."

"13 years ago."

Goku pondered this information for a second before a question occurred to him.

"What's a planet?"

"What's a...uh..." Tarble considered how to answer the question for a few seconds. "A planet is...another world, separate from this one, and far away. These planets get organized into groups called 'systems,' based on the fact that they all spin around a certain...sun." Goku nodded along, mostly understanding everything. "Different systems are really far away from each other. Only spaceships like the one that brought you here can possibly hope to cover the distance between them all that quickly."

Goku thought for a moment. "But why would my folks send me here? Did...did they not want me?"

Tarble hesitated for a second before taking a deep breath.

"On Planet Vegeta, it's customary for Saiyan children to be placed into incubators for three years before being sent on missions to other planets. Over the course of these missions, technology within their ships would provide them with the knowledge they need to complete them and function in Saiyan society upon their return. That's how I know so much about our people."

Goku thought this over before another question came up. "But what did they want us to do here, though?" Tarble was dreading that particular question.

"Ah...well, uh..." he said, not quite sure how to break it to him. Goku looked at him quizzically for a second, forcing Tarble to elaborate. "They sent us here to...test out our combat capabilities on the native population, and programmed us to complete that task as efficiently as possible," he answered, but Goku wasn't quite satisfied with that.

"...Meaning what?" he asked, a bit of an edge creeping into his voice. Tarble gulped before responding candidly.

"Meaning they wished for us to kill every living thing we met."

Goku's eyes widened as he considered what Tarble was saying. "That's...horrible," Goku said, his shock and disgust evident across his features. "H-how could anybody want so many innocent people dead?!"

Tarble sighed, indicating he was likewise appalled at his people's customs. "Saiyan culture is predicated on the belief that strength denotes importance. The weak must have some sort of purpose to justify their continued existence. It is therefore the right of the strong to destroy that which serves no purpose. It is disturbing and barbaric...but it is our people's way, all the same."

Goku found himself growling slightly. "It shouldn't be," he said simply. Tarble nodded.

"It shouldn't be," he repeated, a part of him happy at the prospect of finding another Saiyan who agreed with his worldview. After a moment of reflection, Goku had another question.

"So, you said that we were...'programmed' to do all that stuff, right? What does that mean?"

"It means we were trained to complete that mission."

"Hm...but you haven't gone around killing anyone, right?" Tarble shook his head.

"My pod was originally intended to travel to a planet called Tech-Tech, much farther away than Earth. I believe something happened to the pod's systems that caused it to come here to ensure my safety. As a result, my programming was never completed." Tarble thought on this for a moment. "If it had been...I might have become a completely different person."

Goku stared at him for a second. "Do you think that happened to me?"

"It's a possibility, although...your parents also could have intended for you to come here. Nevertheless, the fact that you were sent so soon after birth is definitely puzzling. I'm admittedly at a loss."

Goku and Tarble flew in silence for a while before Goku spoke up again.

"So what's so special about Saiyans anyway? Besides the tails."

Tarble thought for a moment. "Well...Saiyans are generally stronger than humans, living on a planet with ten times Earth's gravity. Further, all Saiyans, even those who serve as non-combatants, have a certain degree of natural warrior instincts. In practice, this manifests itself as an uncommon proficiency when it comes to all kinds of physical combat, including the ability to learn techniques remarkably easily."

Goku's eyes brightened up slightly, as if something which confused him finally made sense. "Huh. Everyone did think it was pretty weird how I figured out the Kamehameha so fast."

Tarble was slightly confused, but assumed it to be some kind of ki technique. "Yes. Saiyans are naturally adept in the art of ki manipulation-one of several natural traits that has earned their reputation as a warrior race."

"What else?"

Tarble thought about it some more. "Well...there is the zenkai." Goku cocked his head in confusion. "The zenkai is a process which occurs whenever a Saiyan recovers from a critical injury-their body adapts to that experience and grows stronger to overcome it. Some Saiyans have been known to become significantly stronger by this method, although there is a limit on how often such a recovery can occur before their direct impact on a Saiyan's power becomes negligible."

"What about flying? Is that another thing Saiyans can do?" Goku asked, noting the ease with which Tarble could keep up with the Nimbus moving at a leisurely pace. Tarble shook his head.

"The power of flight is a particular technique which anyone can learn with the proper training. Your Saiyan programming should've included it early on, as well as the knowledge of how to produce ki attacks."

Goku cocked his head. "I only learned how to do stuff like that when I learned the Kamehameha. And I definitely can't fly." This left Tarble confused as well.

"Huh...from what I've learned about the position of Earth relative to Planet Vegeta, it's highly unlikely you wouldn't have learned either of those things before arriving. Which means...you must have lost your programming somehow, or never had it implemented in the first place."

Goku thought this over. "Maybe...hm. That might be it."

"What?" Tarble asked, unsure what Goku was getting at.

"My grandpa said that I hit my head as a baby. He said that I was a bit of a handful when he found me, but after that happened, I was kind and gentle."

Tarble pondered this. "Hm...a significant head injury could have eliminated your programming. In its absence, your own natural personality would have asserted itself."

Goku's expression darkened. "If that hadn't happened, I might have..." He didn't need to finish the sentence. Tarble chuckled grimly.

"How ironic-that we both owe so much of who we are today to random twists of fate."

Goku chuckled as well. "Yeah, it's...pretty weird."

After a minute of silence, Tarble decided to ask a question of his own.

"So, you know something of my origins, but I'm rather curious about the life you've lived up to this point. You mentioned a 'grandpa' who raised you."

Goku nodded, his expression brightening once more. "Yeah! His name was Gohan! He was a really strong martial artist who lived out on Mount Paozu, where I guess my ship must have landed."

"Ah. So it was his school that you joined?"

Goku shook his head. "Nah. The Turtle School is run by his master, Master Roshi."

Tarble nodded. "Huh...I feel like I've heard something about him. He won some big tournament decades ago, didn't he?"

"Mhm! He's really strong, but..." Goku leaned in closer, as if he was telling Tarble a dirty secret. "I think I'm a little stronger than him."

Tarble chuckled. "You may well be. Your level of power impressed me during our little brawl earlier."

Goku scoffed playfully. "Nah. I could tell you were holding back in there. If you really wanted to, you could beat me up easy!"

Tarble shrugged. "Perhaps. But, then again, I am the son of one of the strongest Saiyans alive."

Goku's eyes widened. "Really? Who?"

"The Saiyan monarch, King Vegeta III. Only my brother, Prince Vegeta IV, has a higher level of power...and perhaps the renowned warrior Bardock."

Goku blinked. "So, you're...royalty?" he asked. He looked at him with a curious expression, as if he was worried he ought to have bowed in respect or something. He made a motion to that effect before Tarble raised his hand to dissuade him.

"Please. I don't wish to be treated any differently on account of my upbringing. Besides, was it not your own that we were discussing?"

Goku nodded, and resumed his relaxed posture. "Right. Well, do you wanna hear it from the beginning?"

"I would like that, yes."

Goku smiled. "Alrighty then! Well, like I said, I was raised by my grandpa Gohan up until I was..." He counted out the years on his fingers. "Eight, I think? He was killed by a horrible monster." Tarble could tell that the memory brought some discomfort to Goku.

"I'm sorry," he said, although Goku waved him off.

"Nothing to be sorry for. Bad stuff just happens sometimes, you know?"

Tarble nodded before thinking for a moment. "You know...we could try and find a way to bring your grandfather back through the Dragon Balls as well."

Goku nodded. "Yeah, I thought about it. I don't think he'd mind too much, and...I do want to see him again." He sat on the Nimbus silently for a few seconds before continuing. "Well, anyway, after he died, I lived on my own. I knew how to hunt and fish and everything, and he taught me martial arts, so I was okay. I kept the Dragon Ball with four stars in it to remember him by. I...I liked to think he was in there somehow, after he died, but...I'm not so sure about that anymore."

Several seconds passed in silence. "What happened then? Why did you leave Mount Paozu?"

Goku's expression brightened up a bit. "Well, one day, when I was hunting, I got hit by a car." Tarble's eyes widened a bit as he said this, but Goku's expression made it clear this wasn't a serious issue. "Me and the girl who owned it, Bulma, got into a bit of a fight, but we worked it out. I let her see the Four Star Dragon Ball, and she explained what the Dragon Balls were and offered for me to go with her to gather them all."

Tarble smirked. "I imagine that was an interesting journey." Goku nodded.

"Yeah! We met a lot of really nice people! Like Master Roshi, who we met after a big turtle introduced us. He's the one who gave me Nimbus!" Goku paused and patted the cloud, and for a second, Tarble could've sworn it jerked forward a bit, in some bizarre gesture of affection. "Let's see...oh! We also met the Ox King, who trained alongside my grandpa! And his daughter Chi Chi. She was nice. There was also Oolong, a pig who can turn into other stuff, and Puar, a cat who can also turn into stuff! Not to mention her friend Yamcha, who tried to rob us a couple times but then started helping us! And I guess he and Bulma are...ah, what's the word?"

"Dating?" Tarble suggested. Goku snapped his fingers.

"There it is! Yeah, dating. What else...?"

"You seem to have made a lot of friends on this journey of yours, although I can imagine you ran into a fair amount of trouble as well," Tarble prompted. Goku's eyes widened a bit as he remembered everything.

"Oh yeah, there was definitely some weird stuff we had to deal with. Couple of random thugs and monsters-took them down easy enough. We had to fight Oolong and Yamcha at first, but we became friends eventually. There was also this weird rabbit guy who turned people into carrots, but Yamcha helped me beat him up, and I put him and his gangsters on the moon."

At this, Tarble blinked a couple times. "...You put them where?"

"The moon," Goku repeated, confused. "You know, the thing in the sky that-"

"I know what the moon is, I just-how?! How are those people not dead?!"

Goku thought about it for a moment before shrugging. "I could breathe just fine up there, and so could they, as far as I can tell. I told them that I'd let them back down if they did nothing but make treats for all kids everywhere." Goku became lost in thought for a second. "Come to think of it, I probably gotta bring them back down soon..." Tarble, meanwhile, was left utterly confused, but decided it would be better for his sanity not to question it. Goku's thoughts then returned to Tarble's question.

"Oh! And there was this other guy named Pilaf, and he was a real villain. Henchmen, a castle, all kinds of gadgets-the works! He wanted to use our Dragon Balls to take over the world, but we stopped him with our wish."

"Hm. And just what did you end up wishing for?" Tarble asked, his curiosity piqued.

"Panties," Goku replied point-blank, shocking Tarble.

"W-what?!"

"Panties," Goku repeated. "You know, those things girls wear to-"

"I know what they are!" Tarble shouted back, confused and flustered at the same time.

"I mean, technically it was Oolong's wish. Kind of a spur of the moment thing. No idea what he likes so much about them, though."

Tarble's eyes narrowed as he took in Goku's explanation, before shaking his head. "Anyway, so after that you escaped, beat everyone up, and saved the day?"

"Eh, something like that. I was out for most of it-not quite sure why. One second I was looking at the moon and the next I was lying naked on the sand, the castle was destroyed, and my tail was gone. Nobody seemed to offer much of an answer, either." Goku's words struck Tarble suddenly, and he was left struggling to come up with a suitable explanation of what Goku had undergone. He had just settled on something when Goku added on another detail which threw a wrench into his plans: "You know, my grandpa said that the monster who killed him came out on full moon nights like that. Kind of an odd coincidence, huh?"

Tarble flinched and began sweating profusely. It didn't take much to realize just who that monster was and what had happened that fateful night. He debated whether he should be brutally honest with Goku-after all, he'd already explained that his parents had sent him to Earth to kill everything on the planet. But then again, that was a more abstract realization to grapple with, and not something he had to worry about thanks to losing his programming. In this case, he would be stating plainly that Goku was at least indirectly responsible for his own "grandfather's" death. Tarble gulped, considering his options, which didn't escape Goku's notice.

"What's wrong? You look a little weird," Goku remarked. Tarble coughed a bit before calming himself down as much as he could.

"...Nothing," he said. Goku looked at him for a second before looking back to the course ahead, satisfied with the answer. The conversation eventually picked up again as the two flew ever-closer to their destination.

* * *

After a few more hours of flying, the large skyscrapers and domes of West City could be vaguely seen off in the distance. Tarble and Goku, distracted by their conversation, didn't quite notice the sight, but the Flying Nimbus took care to steer Goku, and consequently Tarble, in the right direction anyway.

"Hang on," Tarble said, confused. "So, his whole gimmick was just...being disgusting?" Goku nodded.

"Yep! Good thing Krillin don't got a nose, or he would've been knocked out!"

"He...doesn't have a-okay," Tarble responded. Far too many details about Goku's experiences were too strange even for him to fully comprehend. The fact that he was an alien from a distant warrior race seemed to be the least strange thing about him. As he looked away to try and process everything, however, he noticed the city coming up straight ahead, and called Goku's attention to it.

"Huh. Yup! That's definitely a city alright!" he replied, awed by all the hustle and bustle of the people below.

"Come on, let's touch down," Tarble said, and Goku guided his Nimbus towards the ground to match Tarble's course. When Goku jumped off, the Flying Nimbus floated around him a bit, almost playfully, before taking off into the sky and waiting for its master's call. Several onlookers paused to regard the two, particularly the boy who seemed to be flying for a second, but ultimately dismissed it. They had places to be.

"So...where can we find Bulma...?" Goku wondered aloud, completely missing the weird looks. Tarble was likewise confused, but had a better idea of how to proceed.

"You said she's 17, right?" Goku nodded. "It's unlikely she'll be in the phone book. And you don't know her last name?" Goku shook his head. "Blast. Alright, well...she's probably in school right now, so our only option is to look around all the high schools and hope we find her."

Goku groaned. "That'll take forever, though!"

"I know, but it's the only choice we have. It's not like we could just randomly approach people and ask-"

"Have you seen a girl named Bulma?" Goku asked the first person he saw, a traffic cop, stopping Tarble in his tracks. The woman just looked back at the child quizzically, so he decided to elaborate. "She's about as tall as you, she's got blue eyes, her hair is...kinda green, kinda blue? I dunno, it's weird. You might have seen her with a tall guy with black hair?" Tarble paused, wondering for the briefest second if Goku's blunt approach might actually yield results, but the woman just shook her head apologetically.

"Sorry, hun, but lots of people cross this street every day. I couldn't tell you any of their names."

Goku's face fell, and Tarble quickly walked over. "Of course, ma'am. Sorry for bothering you, we're just looking for a friend of his."

"It's quite alright, dear," she said.

"Come on, why don't we keep looking around? If we don't find her at a high school, maybe one of the capsule store owners will recognize the description," Tarble suggested, to which Goku eventually nodded. The two began to walk off, while the woman's brow furrowed in thought.

"Capsules...Bulma..." The connection hit her like a bolt of lightning.

"Wait!" she called out, stopping both of them in their tracks. "Are you boys looking for Bulma Briefs?"

The two looked at each other, their surprise evident, before Tarble replied. "Uh, I'm assuming?" The name seemed familiar to him, although he couldn't quite remember why. "Can you tell us where she lives?"

The woman laughed. "Everyone in West City knows where the Briefs family lives, hun! They're the owners of Capsule Corp!"

Suddenly, he remembered where he'd heard the last name-after all, even the people of Jingle Village had heard about the invention of capsules by a man named Dr. Briefs. He simply didn't know that he had a teenage daughter.

"You can find them at the Capsule Corp building near downtown! You can't miss it!"

"Thank you! Thank you so much!" Tarble called out before taking Goku and flying off, not bothering to call for the Flying Nimbus. The woman stared at them as they flew away, before blinking.

"Yeah, okay."

* * *

It didn't take them long to find the Capsule Corp building-the traffic cop had been correct in saying it was hard to miss. Not quite knowing what to do, Tarble elected to simply ring the doorbell of what they assumed was the front door upon touching down. After a few minutes, a blonde woman whose eyes seemed to stay perpetually closed opened the door to greet them.

"Oh! Hello, there! Can I help you with something?"

Before Tarble could speak up, Goku interjected. "Hey, Bulma, you in there?" he called out into the facility. Tarble groaned while the woman's eyes widened ever so slightly.

"Oh, are you Bulma's friends? I'm sorry, dearies, but she's at school right now. You'll have to come back in a couple hours."

After a few seconds, however, a young girl's voice could be heard from upstairs. "Goku? Is that you?"

Tarble and the woman were left shocked while Goku nodded. "Yeah! And I brought a friend! We were hoping you could come fix the Dragon Radar!"

"Well, alright! Bring it up here!" Goku happily complied, moving past the older woman towards the sound of Bulma's voice. Tarble simply looked at the woman apologetically, while she seemed to seethe with a quiet fury.

"So...she's home, is she?" she said after a second before marching after Goku, Tarble awkwardly trailing her. When they arrived in Bulma's room, they found Goku talking excitedly with Bulma about recent events while she sat at her desk, examining the broken Dragon Radar.

"Hang on, you're an alien?!" Bulma asked, her surprise evident.

"Yuh-huh!" Goku asked, surprisingly cheery about the Earth-shattering revelation.

"Huh...I mean, between the tail, your superhuman strength, and...other things...I suppose I always suspected, but...man. That is quite the bombshell."

Only as the older woman made her way into the room did Tarble get a good look at the young girl Goku had described. His description was mostly accurate, but failed to account for something Tarble noticed immediately. Something about the way her eyes examined Goku as he told her about his origins, looking at every detail of his appearance with a new understanding, struck him as remarkable. He realized that he was dealing with a highly analytical mind-a girl likely every bit the genius her father is, perhaps even more so. More than that, he could see her weighing the implications of everything she knew about Goku, and everything she was hearing. He could practically hear the gears in her head spinning frantically as she took it all in. For some reason, this one detail about her fascinated him, and he found it difficult to look away.

"Oh! There's the friend I told you about! Hey, Tarble!"

Until she looked directly at him, and his composure shattered.

"Uh, h-hello," he said, meekly waving and blushing slightly. The older woman, meanwhile, was fairly irritated.

"Young lady," she said sternly, but Bulma ignored her, making straight for Tarble as soon as she noticed the tail.

"Oh. My. Stars. This is amazing! Not one, but two living members of an alien species, standing right in my room! Completely alien physiology..." He felt those analytical eyes of hers scanning every inch of him, and suddenly felt a peculiar discomfort. It wasn't unlike a sample being studied under a microscope. After a few seconds, she chuckled a bit, revealing the teenage girl she was at heart. "Tough looking..." she remarked off-handedly, "But kind of a shrimp." Tarble blushed a bit. It was true-she was almost half a foot taller than him. "Are all of you guys short?" she asked him, calling his attention back to her.

"Uh, no. We kinda, uh, shoot up around 17 or so."

"And how old are you?"

"...17."

"Figured," Bulma said, giggling a little, although Tarble noticed her spare a second glance at him, slightly more furtive than last time. The older woman cleared her throat.

"Young lady, why are you not in school?" she asked sternly.

"Sorry, ma, but school's boring," Bulma replied off-handedly. "Tarble here is way more interesting," she added, in a tone which made Tarble blush a little more. Her mother scoffed.

"That doesn't mean you can just leave when you please!" she replied. Bulma smirked.

"As it turns out, I can," she replied, holding up her watch and pushing a button. Before anyone could react, she had seemingly vanished, before a squeaky voice called up to them from down on the floor. After a second, she reappeared, seeming to have grown back to normal size. "Made this bad boy so I could fly around in Goku's shirt when he needed to use his flying cloud. Or so I could become a crime fighting superhero. Haven't quite decided."

The older woman sighed and began to walk away. "I swear, both you and your father are too smart for your own good sometimes," she said as she left the room. Bulma laughed.

"Yeah, probably," she said before returning to examining Tarble. "So," she asked, "The tail's prehensile, right?"

"To an extent," Tarble replied. "I can use it to wrap around objects and move it around like a more loose approximation of a limb."

Bulma's eyebrows shot up a little. Evidently she wasn't expecting him to know what that word meant. "And what about the, uh..." She spared a quick glance at Goku, who seemed preoccupied with all of the various gadgets on Bulma's desk. "...The other thing?" Tarble knew what she was talking about.

"I knew to stay indoors on full moon nights. My programming informed me of much of my Saiyan attributes, including the danger of looking at the full moon," he said. At this, Bulma's eyes widened.

"Programming?" she asked a little louder, to which Goku decided to respond.

"Yeah! Apparently the spaceships we came in put all sorts of stuff into our brains about how to fight and junk. I forgot all of it, though."

Bulma's eyes widened. "Spaceships?!" she asked excitedly, turning back to Tarble. "What shape are they? How fast can they travel? What method of propulsion do they use? Where is Goku's? Where is yours?!" Each question came out in rapid-fire, to the point where Tarble had to take a breath before responding.

"Spherical with a hatch around the center that doubles as a viewport, 1575 times the speed of light, an FTL drive designed to warp space around the ship in order to enable FTL travel, somewhere near Mt. Paozu, and at the bottom of your planet's northern ocean." It was almost relieving to speak to someone who understood every word of what he was saying, although a part of him felt guilty when he saw the disappointed look in her eyes.

"Hm...systems are probably fried by now," she said before brightening up. "But we've still got one other ship to work with! Let's go looking for it!"

Goku cleared his throat. "Uh...what about the Dragon Radar?"

Bulma's face fell slightly as she remembered what she had pledged to fix. "Right. That! I'll

get right on that so that you can find your grandpa's four star ball! After that, though, we can be on our way!"

This time, Tarble raised a finger to speak. "Actually, our priorities have shifted somewhat." This piqued Bulma's interest, and she motioned for him to go on. Before he could, Goku cut in, as per his usual fashion.

"We're going to round up the Dragon Balls to revive everyone the Red Ribbon Army has killed. Then we're gonna beat them up!" he said cheerfully, causing Bulma to flinch.

"You're gonna what?!" Bulma cried out in panic, while Goku was confused, Tarble slightly less so.

"I take it their names are known far beyond Jingle Village," Tarble began. Bulma nodded frantically.

"Goku, you're pretty strong, I grant you, but you're talking about the most powerful military on Earth! The world government has only been able to slow them down! No one martial artist could stop them, not even you!"

Goku thought it over for a second before replying, "But what about two martial artists?" Bulma facepalmed.

"What difference does it make?! They're too strong for you to handle-they'll kill you both!"

"Not necessarily," Tarble cut in. "I believe I tasted the worst of their capabilities while I was in captivity. They possess powerful war machines and skilled warriors, but Goku and I can dispatch both easily." Goku spoke up to back his friend's point.

"Yeah! He doesn't like saying it, but Tarble is way stronger than me! We'll whoop these guys no problem!"

Tarble blushed slightly, embarrassed by Goku's praise, while Bulma looked back between the two of them frantically, panic in her eyes. Tarble sympathized-he knew full well how terrifying the Red Ribbon Army was to the humans of his village, and their own reputation for cruelty. He wanted to comfort her, to find some way to assure her they were not likely to be in significant danger, but the words escaped him. However, Bulma moved the conversation forward all the same.

"I don't know, I just-I think you guys are way in over your heads here!"

At this, Tarble nodded before taking a deep breath and responding frankly.

"They invaded my village, held me captive for a month, murdered my mother and sister, and would've murdered my father if Goku didn't intervene. At this point, I don't give a damn how dangerous they are." The serious tone from what had appeared to be a relatively calm person swiftly silenced Bulma's objections, and left Goku looking slightly concerned. Seeing that no one was going to interrupt him, Tarble continued, "More than that, however...they appear to have the means required to seek out the Dragon Balls."

At this, Bulma was even more perplexed. "What?"

"They didn't pick my village at random. They knew that one of the balls was located in the vicinity of my home. They invaded because they needed men to comb through the area."

"Plus, they were looking around near where I found the first ball," Goku added. "They might've found it if they had a while longer to look. Good thing I beat 'em all up!"

Bulma's eyes widened. "Obviously imprecise, but...with the resources they've got, even a vague radar could be enough to find the Dragon Balls in a couple months. Maybe less!" This knowledge only intensified Bulma's own internal debate, and after half a minute, it resolved itself with a cry of frustration.

"Agh, alright, I'll go with you guys!"

Goku blinked in surprise. "You sure? You seemed pretty worried."

"Oh, yeah, no, I am absolutely terrified and about 90% certain we're all going to die," Bulma cut in. "But at this point, the stakes are looking pretty major. I definitely don't want to be known as the person who didn't step up when the fate of the world was at stake because her mom would get mad at her for missing school. Besides, if you're going to bring back everybody the Red Ribbon Army has killed anyway..." She trailed off, not wanting to get into the more morbid details of her argument. "Well. Just give me an hour, and I'll have us ready to sneak out of here." She took a deep breath as she returned to her desk. "Let's just hope that I don't end up regretting this."

* * *

About an hour later, after repairing the Dragon Radar, packing some essentials, and coming to an arrangement with her mother, Bulma stood in front of Goku and Tarble as they prepared to head out from the back outdoor area of the facility. Goku sat on top of his Flying Nimbus, eager to depart, while Bulma's mother, Panchy, watched them prepare to leave.

"Alright!" Bulma said, doing her best to get everyone's attention. "The radar says the nearest ball is out in the ocean, not too far away from an unexplored island. My dad has a submarine capsule in his case, so we'll use that to dive down and retrieve the ball. Got it?" Goku and Tarble nodded. Without a word, Tarble began hovering a couple feet above the ground, preparing himself to take off. Goku simply looked back and grinned while Bulma's jaw dropped. Panchy simply chuckled.

"Oh, how intriguing!"

"Hold up, you can fly?!" she asked in a mixture of confusion and shock. Tarble chuckled sheepishly.

"Why, yes. The technique was included in my Saiyan programming, and I've had plenty of time to perfect it."

"You're gonna teach me how to do that when we're done here, right?" Goku asked. Tarble chuckled.

"Of course."

Bulma continued to stare at Tarble in awe before an idea entered her head, causing her to blush a bit at the thought. She quickly looked down at her Micro-Band and made a show of inspecting it. "You know...I did whip this thing up in the middle of Home Ec. And like, yeah, it worked the last few times, but, uh, you never know with these things, you know? Plus, there may be certain health risks I didn't know about when designing it, you know? So, I think that, uh, in the interest of safety, it would be better if someone could, um, carry me over there." By the end of her statement, she was struggling to maintain her composure.

Goku simply looked back at her, confused, while Tarble's cheeks began to redden. "W-well, I mean, I'm sure Goku would be happy to-"

"A-hem," Panchy coughed, loud enough to be heard by Tarble's keen senses. He blushed further.

"Of course, I-I'm also happy to, uh, carry you over there," Tarble replied, more nervously this time. Panchy smiled.

"Aw, how gentlemanly of you!" she remarked, causing both her daughter and Tarble to blush even further. Goku was more confused than ever.

"Really, guys, I'm cool with-"

"A-hem!" Panchy coughed, louder this time. Goku's attention was quickly diverted.

"Whoa, are you okay, Mrs. Briefs?" Goku asked, concerned.

"Oh, just a slight cough, dear. Thank you," she replied, winking at Bulma, who simply got worse. The gesture went completely over Goku's head.

"Well, feel better!" he said before turning to the others. "So, are we gonna go, or what?"

"Uh, yeah, just give us a sec," Bulma replied, turning her head to look at Goku as she walked over to where Tarble was hovering. As such, she failed to notice a large rock in her way, which she promptly tripped over. Without even thinking, Tarble swiftly moved to catch her before she hit the ground. Bulma took a second to regain her composure before looking up at Tarble, who looked down at her at the same time.

"Are you okay?" he asked. Bulma chuckled awkwardly.

"Uh, yeah. Yeah, I'm good. Sorry, I'm not usually so...clumsy," she said, lost in thought for a second. Tarble blushed even more intensely, and the two struggled to say something further before Goku yawned, drawing their attention back to the matter at hand. "We're, uh, we're good," Tarble said, causing Goku to brighten up immediately.

"Alright, then! Let's goooo!" Goku cried out excitedly, the Flying Nimbus picking up speed as he took off, leaving Tarble and Bulma to trail off behind him, flying as fast as he could towards the first stop on another remarkable journey.

* * *

Whoo! And done! It sure has been a while, huh?

I'm going to go ahead and post this one early just to get ahead of the fact that I'll be busy tomorrow morning. Sorry if this seems like a bit of a filler chapter compared to previous ones, but I figured we could use some down-time to develop Goku and Tarble's relationship as well as bring in some of the key players. I promise Chapter 5 will get more interesting as far as fights go. Still, in this we get some interesting developments-Goku learning of his true origins much earlier, Tarble learning about Goku's life on Earth and meeting Bulma. Fun stuff-a bit sappier than usual, but hey, I like sap sometimes.

Once again, not gonna bother with any kind of power levels, but you'll know soon enough the extent of Tarble's power. In the meantime, responses!

Lord Martiya says:

"So, now Tarble is going to meet someone who knows about Saiyan, even if they have missed their description... Can't wait for this trainwreck."

Eh, went pretty well, all things considered, although Goku is still missing a few key details...

Wolfsblood13 says:

"This is a really great story, I cant wait to see what happens next."

Thanks! Glad you're enjoying it!

With that said, thank you all for reading, have yourselves a fantastic night, and take care.


	5. The First Engagement

The group flew for several hours en route to the coordinates indicated by the Dragon Radar. As Goku was raring to go, he decided to fly a bit ahead of Tarble and Bulma, leaving both of them struggling to make conversation. Given that Tarble held her in a bridal carry throughout the entire trip, this was especially awkward. After a few minutes, Bulma broached a new topic of discussion.

"So, how much did this programming tell you about where you came from?" she asked, forcing Tarble to think for a second.

"A great deal. I am aware of much of the history of my people, although my knowledge is vague beyond the time of Sadala's destruction."

"Sadala? Is that your home planet?"

"Was," Tarble said, his expression darkening somewhat. "All we know is that it was destroyed centuries ago, in one of many conflicts among my people. The surviving Saiyans left the planet and traveled the galaxy in search of another."

Bulma was captivated by Tarble's account. "And?" she asked, eager to learn more.

"They bounced around and eventually found a permanent home, Planet Plant, although it was already inhabited by another species, the Tuffles. After centuries of uneasy peace, they were...exterminated by the Saiyans." They flew in silence for a moment before Bulma eventually spoke up.

"Are you okay?" she asked, causing him to blush slightly before answering.

"It's...fine," he said hesitantly. "I've made my peace with my people's ways, even if I do find them detestable. I am thankful that I do not share their views."

At this, Bulma cocked her head, a question forming in her mind. "Oh, yeah, I've been meaning to ask: why were you and Goku sent here anyway?" At this, Tarble's eyes widened sharply as he let out a small grunt of surprise. "...Tarble?" Bulma asked, concerned. Tarble decided being blunt once more was the best course.

"We were programmed with the intention of wiping out all life we encounter."

Bulma's eyes widened as a look of shock and utter horror came across her features. "Oh my God," she said, at a loss for words. Tarble nodded.

"Fortunately, Goku apparently suffered a head injury which eliminated his programming, and as I was intended for another planet and redirected here, my programming was never completed. You have nothing to fear from either of us."

Bulma breathed a sigh of relief. "Yeah, I figured, but...jeez. Why would they even do something so...**horrible**?"

Tarble sighed again. "It is a service they render on behalf of a being far more powerful and cruel than anyone else in the universe. Truthfully...I think they enjoy it."

Bulma let out a shaky breath. "Well...I'm glad you and Goku aren't like that."

"As am I," Tarble replied with a sad smile. As it happened, their eyes met for a split second, and for that one instant, another question crossed Bulma's mind. She quickly looked away about the same time as Tarble, before ultimately mustering up the nerve.

"Say, uh, have you...you know...met anybody, back in that village of yours?" she asked, more timid than usual. Tarble was confused.

"'Met anybody?' I don't understand."

"Y-you know, somebody you go out with. Like, to a movie, maybe a nice restaurant or something?" By this point, understanding dawned in Tarble's eyes, and he began blushing profusely.

"W-why are you asking?"

"Oh, you know, just curious."

"D-do you not have...s-somebody, yourself?" he asked nervously, causing Bulma to chuckle slightly.

"I used to, but, well, it didn't quite work out between us."

"...I-I see," he stuttered out in response. For a while, he didn't respond, simply continuing to stew. Bulma smiled a bit.

"I take it the answer is no?" Tarble said nothing, silently stewing in embarrassment. "Hm. Interesting," she said with a chuckle, and in a tone which caused Tarble's heart rate to elevate to a noticeable degree.

"_This...I don't even know _what _this feeling is_," he thought nervously, as the two of them continued flying through the sky.

* * *

After some time, the spot they had been searching for came within sight, and the three of them touched down onto the shore of a nearby island, as close to where the ball was located as they could get. After Tarble gently set Bulma down onto the ground, she got to work.

"Alright! Let's see here..." She opened up her father's capsule case, but was shocked to find that there was only one capsule inside. "W-what the-?!" she asked aloud. "Why is there only one...oh, no."

Tarble looked over her shoulder, having to float off the ground slightly in order to reach. "What's wrong?"

"Dad has several capsule cases he keeps lying around, not all of which are particularly...useful. I must've grabbed the wrong one."

"Hm. And you're certain this doesn't have anything useful inside of it?"

Bulma nodded slowly. "Y-yeah. Maybe it does! Maybe I'm just jumping to conclusions! After all, he could have put almost anything in here!" She took a deep breath. "Okay, dad! I'm going to trust you on this! Here goes!"

With that, she pulled the release mechanism and threw the capsule into the air. With a puff of smoke, the capsule's contents were released...and a pile of magazines fell onto the sand. Bulma and Tarble were left appalled and immensely embarrassed while Goku was simply confused. He picked one up out of curiosity, but still found himself perplexed as to their purpose.

"I don't get it. They're just sitting there naked, but there isn't a bath anywhere. Why are they-?"

Tarble swiftly covered the child's eyes while holding out his hand towards the magazine, vaporizing it with a ki blast.

"Hey! Why'd you do that?" Goku asked, somewhat indignantly.

"It was the only way," Tarble replied with a shudder, while Bulma busied herself with the task of furiously tearing the rest of them to shreds.

"That stupid old horndog! I'm never trusting him with anything ever again!"

Goku cocked his head. "Huh. Never heard of something called a horndog before. Are they like dogs with little horns on their foreheads, or-?"

"Goku? Quiet time," Bulma replied, to which he simply nodded.

"Okay."

"Now..." Tarble began, "Your radar says the ball is located somewhere underneath the ocean, correct?"

Bulma nodded. "That's right."

"Give it to me."

"What?!" Bulma asked incredulously.

"Give me the radar."

"A-are you...don't tell me you're going to try and swim down there!"

"I'm not going to try and swim down there."

Bulma heaved a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank God."

"I'm going to have Goku go down there," he said, causing Goku to turn his head towards him while Bulma gawked at him in shock.

"Are you insane?! The thing's hundreds of feet down! Nobody can hold their breath that long, not even Goku!"

"True, but Saiyans do have one particular technique that can help with that," Tarble said before turning to Goku. "Now, Goku, pay attention," he said as he flew up slightly before a wave of ki expanded from him in all directions. Soon, a small, white, flaring bubble of ki surrounded Tarble, casting him in a faint glow. Goku looked at him with a spellbound expression.

"Whoaaa...what is that?" he asked, causing Tarble to smile slightly.

"This is a ki barrier, a technique known to many alien species, including Saiyans. It involves the manipulation of ki around yourself to trap air and heat within a certain area. With this technique, Saiyans can spend an extended period of time in the vacuum of space without suffering any harsh effects. In principle, it should function perfectly as a seal against the water, allowing you to travel beneath the waves without fear of drowning."

Both Bulma and Goku were impressed by that.

"Whoa, that's so cool!"

"Yeah," Bulma added. "Although, you can't expect Goku to figure out something so complicated that quickly. And we're expecting the Red Ribbon Army to be somewhere around here, so we can't afford to sit around while-"

"It's like this, right?" Goku called out, having pushed himself into the air a bit with the Power Pole and formed a barrier around himself. It was considerably smaller than Tarble's, and seemed to take a fair bit of effort on Goku's part to maintain without forming cracks. Bulma simply stared at him in shock, while Tarble laughed.

"Excellent! I knew that you would catch on quickly."

Bulma looked on in wonder before a question came up. "One thing, though. If this is a full on seal, then it'll push all the water out of the way, right? How will Goku get down there? There's no way a skin-tight seal could give him enough oxygen."

Tarble thinks on this for a moment before he looks off towards Nimbus, which was idly floating nearby.

"I think I have an idea."

* * *

"Alright, so, do you understand the plan here?"

As Tarble spoke, Goku sat atop Nimbus with the Dragon Radar in hand, having crafted a ki barrier around both himself and the cloud. When Goku replied, his voice was slightly distorted by the barrier.

"I think so...I keep this thing up so that Nimbus can go underneath the water, pick up the Dragon Ball, and fly back up, right?" Goku asked, to which Tarble nodded. "One question, though: Bulma, are you coming along?"

Bulma looked over at Tarble for a second before replying. "I don't think so. It's probably fairly dangerous down there, and I'm not nearly as well equipped to get out of there as you are if something goes wrong."

Goku nodded. "That makes sense."

"Good luck," Tarble said simply.

"And be careful!" Bulma added.

"You got it! Be back in a bit!" Goku said, sending Nimbus off towards the ocean before pointing it downwards, water parting around the barrier as it hit the surface. When they could no longer see their friend as his magic cloud carried him below the waves, Tarble turned around, Bulma in tow.

"Alright, so what are we going to do while he gets the Dragon Ball?" Bulma asked, to which Tarble thought for a moment.

"I'd advise you to take cover and shelter yourself in the jungle nearby. If necessary, use that shrinking device to better conceal yourself. **I'll** take care of our adversaries."

Bulma sputtered slightly in her astonishment. "W-wait a second, you're just going out there to fight them on your own?!"

"Something like that."

"B-but they have **guns**! And **rocket launchers**! And other things that are probably even more likely to kill you!"

Tarble simply grunted in acknowledgement.

"They haven't come up with anything that could kill me yet," he replied rather pointedly, the sheer determination in his voice causing Bulma's heart to flutter somewhat as a blush became visible on her cheeks. "Keep yourself safe," he said before kicking off from the ground, creating a shock wave which knocked Bulma over as he took off into the sky, searching for the Red Ribbon Army base that was surely nearby. Bulma could only lie on the ground and stare at Tarble's retreating form in wonder and awe, her chest tightening even further.

"_Oh God," _she thought to herself. "_I am _definitely _crushing on that guy."_

* * *

The pool of water remained still in the underground cave entrance, the underwater tunnel having seen hardly any use from people or animals for centuries. The occasional creature scurried along the cave walls in search of food, or perhaps testing to make sure it was safe to exit the area. As it turned out, it was very much not safe for them to do so, as the water abruptly parted to admit a strange boy with a tail, riding atop a flying yellow cloud at ludicrous speeds. The cloud, seeming to have a mind of its own, halted gently just before a tunnel leading away from the pool, allowing its occupant to slowly climb off and survey his surroundings.

"Stay close to me, Nimbus," Goku said to the cloud. "We may need to get out of here in a hurry." The cloud, as expected, said nothing, simply following behind its master as he slowly made his way through the tunnel. Were he more inclined to ask questions, he may have paused and pondered why an undersea cavern would have its ceilings be adorned with the same light-producing mechanisms that could be found in all of the modern homes he had ever been in. As it happened, he did not, although he did take a moment to register the presence of a fully decomposed skeleton along the path.

"Hoo, boy," Goku said as he looked it over. "Probably got jumped by something and couldn't shake it off. Poor guy must've been here a while, huh, Nimbus?" The cloud didn't respond, but it seemed to float backwards a bit. "I wonder how he got down here. Maybe one of those 'sub' things Bulma was talking about? Or he was just **really **good at holding his breath." He looked over the skeleton for a moment, but didn't seem too bothered by it. Eventually, he simply shrugged. "Welp. Nothing I can do for him. Come on, Nimbus! Let's find that Dragon Ball, quickly! Hopefully those Red Ribbon jerks haven't found this place yet."

The young boy and his cloud continued on unabated for a while, until Goku, focused solely on his objective, failed to notice anything particularly alarming about a series of pressure plates along the ground, while a series of empty tubes lined both sides of the area. Nimbus slowed its movement somewhat, expecting Goku to pause, but the boy kept going, and before it knew it, he stepped onto a plate. Nimbus hurriedly flew forward, but it was too late: a spear rapidly fired out of a hole parallel to Goku's head, slamming the side of his face with extreme force. Were Goku an ordinary human, the spear would've pierced his skull and killed him in an instant. However, as has been established, Goku was not human, and had undergone extensive physical training. Thus, the spear splintered in two upon impact with his face, but not without inflicting a good deal of pain upon Goku.

"OWWWWWW!" the boy cried out, both hands cradling the sides of his face as he hunched over in pain. Nimbus backed up a second, seemingly surprised, before floating to his side. "Agh! Stupid trap! Came out of **nowhere**!"

If the Flying Nimbus had eyes, it would be rolling them into the back of its nonexistent head.

"Nimbus, can you just carry me across?" Goku asked, like a child asking their older sibling to get something from the high shelf. Nimbus floated downwards, allowing Goku to climb on as it flew him over the trap. Goku jumped off and kept on walking, his earlier injury almost forgotten. Nimbus had to silently marvel at the boy's relentless optimism.

Eventually, the pair came upon a tunnel which appeared more refined than the previous tunnels, and after walking through it carefully, ever-vigilant to the possibility of further traps, they arrived in what appeared to be a massive underground facility. A large pool of water held a massive freighter, seemingly docked there before being abandoned. Several tall structures were visible, completely unlit and similarly devoid of any human life. Goku was simply left marveling at the nature of this strange underground city, wondering what exactly its purpose was, or why people would choose to live in such an environment.

"Whoaaa. Check it out, Nimbus! This place is **huge**!" He looked around a bit more, spellbound. "I wonder who made all this? I don't smell any people around, and the only human we saw was that dead guy. Maybe...they built this place a long time ago? But then, something happened, and they had to leave. Or they all died." Goku continued on this train of thought for a second or two, before he got bored. "Hm. Maybe we can ask Bulma about it later. She knows stuff! In the meantime..."

He pulled out the Dragon Radar, looking around to make sure he knew just where it was located in this underground city. So focused was he on zeroing in on the location that he failed to take note of a curious sound coming from an alleyway. Nimbus, however, noticed fairly quickly, and attempted to fly directly in Goku's face to grab his attention.

"Agh! What the-Nimbus! What's gotten into you?" he asked as the cloud frantically zipped around him. "Is there something-?" Goku was stopped mid-sentence as a large metallic creature, with a face resembling the skull of some great beast, suddenly burst forward and swung at Goku with a sword. Goku was able to narrowly dodge the blow, but Nimbus was not as fortunate, catching the full brunt of the attack. Wordlessly, the cloud found itself split into fragments, which hurriedly retreated from the battle in an attempt to reform as something more solid. Caught off guard, Goku was left vulnerable to a blow from the creature's fist, sending him flying across the dock. Landing with a hard thud, Goku took stock of his new adversary.

The creature was incredibly tall, easily twice Goku's height. Colored primarily in black, brown, and camo green, the creature's feet were fairly bulky, and flattened out around the soles for a purpose as of yet unknown. Its chest was particularly large, appearing to be covered in several layers of plating. It had two arms, one of which ended in a powerful machine gun hand, and the other whose hand held the sword Goku had noticed before. A long, coiled tail which trailed behind it, and seemed continuously poised for attack. Its face appeared to have a particularly powerful set of jaws, and its eyes were little more than two bright red dots, staring down its target dispassionately, without any hint of hatred or malice. Metal plates on its knees bore the number 2, which all but confirmed that it was a man-made object, and a skull and crossbones adorning its forehead would have denoted its creators. At the very least, it seemed to denote its most basic purpose, one which Goku had already managed to discern.

"You!" Goku called out, causing the robot to turn its head towards him. "What's your deal? Did the people here make you? Or did someone else make you, to kill the people here?" Goku paused as he became slightly confused. "Or...did the people here make you, and you killed them? Or, did someone else make you, but you killed them, and then you killed the people here too, just because? Or maybe-?"

The robot let out a harsh shriek, which might've been interpreted as an angry retort, had this robot been capable of acting out emotionally. It charged rapidly, the flat soles on its feet aiding its acceleration as it rocketed forward with two small thrusters contained within. Goku got the message.

"Not too chatty, huh? That's cool," he said as he pulled out his Power Pole, planting it into the ground at a slight angle. "Makes it easier to beat you up!" He extended the Power Pole, causing it to rise at the angle it was planted at and strike the robot directly in its chin, stopping it in its tracks with a thud. For a second, it didn't move, but it swiftly recovered and attempted to cut down the obstacle with its sword, the strength behind its swing ironically aiding in its destruction as it shattered on contact with the pole. The robot appeared confused for an instant, while Goku chuckled. However, he soon had to twist himself out of the way as the robot threw the damaged hilt of the sword like a knife, hoping to pierce his forehead. As the hilt struck the cobblestones, Goku was left distracted, allowing the robot to grab onto the pole and toss it aside, taking him with it. The boy hit the wall of a nearby building hard, forming a noticeable indentation in the structure. He pulled himself from the wall with an angry growl, and decided to go for a different approach.

"Ka...me...ha...me..." the boy muttered as he clamped his hands together, placing himself firmly onto the ground. The robot turned towards him and began to rush forward just as Goku was ready to fire. "HAA!" he cried as the blue beam of ki leaped from his hands towards the robot, pushing against the robot's metal chest plating. Although it continued pushing itself forwards against the beam, bits and pieces of metal were chipped away, until finally the beam punched through the main plating and through the other side, destroying most of the robot's critical machinery. The beam kept on going, drilling through the rock wall in the distance, while the robot was left with a massive hole in its chest. After a few hesitant steps, the light in the robots' eyes died, and it fell forwards onto the ground, too damaged to keep on going.

Goku breathed a sigh of relief before picking up his Power Pole and extending it towards the robot, tapping it a couple times. When he was satisfied that the creature was put down for good, he looked around for Nimbus. Fortunately, he didn't have to look for long, as the yellow cloud flew towards him a little faster than usual, looking almost relieved to have managed to pull itself back together. Goku, likewise, smiled, happy that his silent friend was alright. Goku took out the Dragon Radar and examined it once more, succeeding in pinning down the location of the ball.

"Ah, here we go! It's just a little ways away! Come on, Nimbus, let's go get it!" Nimbus flew forwards at a brisk pace in the direction Goku pointed, while he mulled over it for a second longer. "Here's hoping those Red Ribbon jerks aren't giving Tarble and Bulma any trouble..."

* * *

"General Blue!"

A tall, blonde, blue eyed young man in a beige uniform stood with his arms crossed as he examined the data collected by the Red Ribbon Army's scouts. His ears perked up slightly as he heard one of his soldiers call his name.

"What is it, Private Navy?" he asked, somewhat irritated.

"I've lost contact with Captain Dark and his men!" he replied, which heightened Blue's interest, and caused some degree of alarm among the rest of his staff.

"Really?" he asked. "In that case..." he said, slowly starting to grin. "There can be only one explanation." In an almost jubilant manner, he turned to the soldiers assembled around his command station. "Soldiers! Prepare for battle immediately! One or both of the alien insurgents are likely making their way towards us!"

The soldiers panicked even more. "T-the insurgents?!" "B-but one of them decimated Silver Squadron!" "The other one took out Major Metallitron, not to mention the rest of White Squadron!" "You can't be serious! There's no way we can-!"

"Silence!" Blue cried out, silencing the guards immediately. "It is true that our adversaries are formidable, but you are forgetting one thing: we know their weakness!" The soldiers' eyes brightened up slightly as they recalled this information. "All I have to do is paralyze them with my special power, and then...they will be ours." He grinned even more as he thought of how he would be lauded by his superiors for defeating such a potent threat to their plans. Perhaps...he may even be promoted, replacing Officer Black as Red's second in command. The thought made him positively giddy with anticipation. "Now, if my hunch regarding our adversaries is correct, and it is, they shall be arriving at this location in five...four...three...two..." As if on cue, half of the eastern wall of the structure was blown apart by a ki blast, leaving hardly any debris to fall on the heads of anyone nearby. The soldiers near it recoiled in fright as they saw Tarble floating above them, while Blue simply smiled. "One."

"Listen well!" the young Saiyan began. "Your organization has caused many good, innocent people to suffer, and I can no longer stand by and allow you to continue unchallenged. My companions and I shall ensure the end of each and every branch of your organization, as retribution for the many crimes which you have committed...but I am not without mercy. If you surrender to me now, you will not come to any harm, and I will escort you to the authorities, where you will face a fair trial. Should you oppose me...I promise you nothing but **pain**. What is your answer?"

The soldiers looked up at the floating teenager with apprehension, fully aware of the power he possessed. Blue, however, began to laugh with increasing frequency.

"Quite a presumptuous child, is he not?" he asked his soldiers, who frantically nodded in agreement. He turned towards Tarble. "It's about time that somebody taught him a few things. The first lesson you must learn, boy, is this." With a slight grunt of exertion, the general's eyes glowed a bright blue, and Tarble soon found himself trapped in a field of blue ki. Caught off guard by this strange technique, he failed to register Blue leaping towards him until he was right on top of him, and thus could not react in time to block the general's devastating downward kick. The Saiyan was sent flying into the ground, forming a small crater just outside of the command base.

Blue landed just outside of the crater hard enough to crack the ground, and finished what he was going to say after looking down upon Tarble, who was still apparently struggling to move. "General Blue doesn't surrender," he said with a sneer. He reached down in an attempt to grab the boy's tail, only to suddenly find himself grabbing nothing but empty air. "W-what?! I was looking right at him, where-?!" He felt a rush of air behind him, and couldn't help but freeze slightly as he realized just who the source was. Nobody had ever broken free of his technique of their own will, and yet somehow, the brat had managed it. In desperation, Blue attempted to turn around and lunge for the Saiyan's tail.

"You have not chosen wisely," he heard Tarble say to him in a neutral tone, before he felt a jolt unlike any he had ever experienced in all of his years of combat. With a single punch to the face, General Blue was unconscious before he even hit the ground. The soldiers looked at the Saiyan prince in horror, while he looked down at Blue's unconscious body for a second before leveling his gaze at them in return.

"Does he speak for you?" he asked frankly. The soldiers looked over at each other for a second, then put all of their hands up above their heads in lockstep, looking terrified out of their minds. Tarble's expression remained unchanged as he looked upon the display. "I see."

* * *

Hours later, after Bulma met back up with Goku and added the three-star Dragon Ball to their collection, the trio made use of several of the Red Ribbon Army capsules located in the base to transport General Blue's squadron to Paradise City, the city closest to the uncharted island. As with their previous delivery, Goku and Tarble were regarded with shock when the pair of them delivered one of the top generals of the mighty Red Ribbon Army directly to the local authorities. Nevertheless, after a rather frantic call to the Royal Army, the soldiers of Blue squadron were placed in detention awaiting their arrival, while Blue himself was kept in the station's solitary confinement chamber, the staff taking extra care to ensure Blue could not enter into eye contact with anything. This taken care of to Tarble's satisfaction, the two Saiyans exited the police station to find Bulma waiting outside, examining the Dragon Radar.

"So, from the look of things, the next ball is a pretty long trek away, off in someplace called the Sacred Land of Korin," she explained. "We can bet there'll probably be more of the Red Ribbon Army's goons already there, causing trouble."

Goku chuckled. "Ah, so what? We beat up the last guys no problem!"

"Still, we must remain vigilant," Tarble cautioned. "Even if Blue's powers were ultimately ineffective against me, they could have proven quite deadly to you two. My estimation of the Red Ribbon Army's capabilities was evidently in error."

Bulma simply nodded. "Let's just hope we keep getting lucky."

"Indeed. Now then..." Tarble paused, a slight blush forming on his cheeks. "S-shall we depart?"

Bulma blushed a little as well. "Ah, yes, of course. We must set off as quickly as possible, after all!" Goku simply looked on, confused.

"_I really don't get why Bulma won't let me carry her."_

* * *

Many miles away, far from civilization, a diminutive man with striking red hair stood in front of a massive screen showing a map of the world, scowling with displeasure as he held a pen in his hands. As he looked, three of the blinking circles that they had been examining for weeks converged on each other, and were currently traveling at high speed in the direction of another, an area of particular interest to them at the moment. There was no doubt about it: based on eyewitness reports from Silver Squadron and the rapid pace of the insurgents, they had to have some kind of device they used to track down what they were looking for. The fact that they had already progressed halfway towards an objective they had been pursuing for weeks left the man in a very sour mood, indeed.

"Commander Red," a tall man with a short mustache and balding head said in a businesslike manner, drawing the short man's attention. "I have received a report from one of our operatives that will interest you."

"Yeah?! Out with it, already, Officer Black!" the commander shot back, irritated. The tall man cleared his throat.

"According to their information, General Blue and his men have been...detained by the Royal Army." The commander's eyes widened in anger for a moment, and he began clicking the pen furiously. Officer Black looked at him with some concern. "Uh...sir?" At this, the pen snapped in his hands, putting an end to the continual noise. Red took a deep breath before looking up at Officer Black, who began sweating slightly. "I-it may yet be possible to recover them from royal custody. I can have our operative-"

"Leave them. Get Mercenary Tao on the line," the commander interrupted in a surprisingly neutral tone. With this command, a chill entered into the room, and the various officers assembled, Officer Black included, all gulped in apprehension.

"C-Commander, are you certain that-?"

"Those alien freaks have proven too strong for the regular soldiers under our command. I was a fool to think we could deal with that Tarble guy on our own, and now we've lost an entire squadron." The commander took a deep breath before looking up at Officer Black. "We're out of options. Get it done."

The officer nodded with some reluctance, and gestured towards a private holding a landline phone in her hands. At Officer Black's insistence, she scurried over to Commander Red, who snatched the phone out of her hands angrily, leaving her holding the base as he dialed in the assassin's number. After a couple rings, during which the commander tapped his foot impatiently, he finally received a response.

"Hello! You have reached the legendary assassin Tao Pai-pai! Who may I kill for you this fine day?"

For the first time in the last few days, Commander Red smiled.

"Tao Pai-pai...I believe I have a job for you."

* * *

IT LIVES!

Ah, finally, another chapter completed! It's definitely been a while, and I thank you all for your patience. Not sure when I'll be back with another update, but I will promise you this: that next update is going to be pretty action-packed. Anyway, responses!

Jredd said back in Chapter 1: "Neat! I'd like to see where this goes so I'll keep reading :)." Glad you thought so!

Then, in Chapter 4, they say:

"Yep, I read all the chapters so far! Keep up the great work man! Oh, and I hope you weren't too put off by my weirdly long review of your latest chapter of Hermit. I REALLY like that one as well. I still think the humans could have a least tried out the room of spirit and time in that fic even if they only lasted a couple months. They are stronger than Goku was as a kid and have partners rather than being alone like Goku was. But at the same time I understand you may not want to make them too strong too quickly, also you probably have plans for them to make much better use of that room later yeah? :D. In any case great job on both of these stories man, I'll keep an eye on them and try to leave comments/reviews more often. Take care :D."

No problem, and you're fine, lol. Like I said, I appreciated it. Made me feel like you were really invested, you know? Anyway, I hope you've been liking the recent chapters of Hermit as well!

KakashiHatakeDFS says: "not to rush, but I'm anxious for that new chapter. keep up the good work!" And here it is! I hope it's lived up to its expectations.

With all that said, thank you all for reading, have yourselves a fantastic day, and take care.


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